French President Macron loses absolute majority in parliamentary elections

Paris: French voters have denied the re-elected President Emmanuel Macron an absolute majority as the newly formed left-wing alliance government has gained the majority. The result announced in the early hours of Monday threw French politics into turmoil and raised the question of the legislation and messy coalition. Earlier, Macron’s centrist alliance, Ensemble (Together), was […]

Paris: French voters have denied the re-elected President Emmanuel Macron an absolute majority as the newly formed left-wing alliance government has gained the majority.

The result announced in the early hours of Monday threw French politics into turmoil and raised the question of the legislation and messy coalition.

Earlier, Macron’s centrist alliance, Ensemble (Together), was ahead of the New Popular Environmentalist and Social Union (Nupes) of Jean-Luc Melenchon in the second round of parliamentary elections in France, according to CNN citing the results released by the Interior Ministry.

According to the result, Marcon secured 245 out of a total 577, however, it still fell short of the 289-seat threshold for an absolute majority in the National Assembly, France’s lower house.

NUPES came in second with 131 seats, and became the main opposition in force in the country, though the coalition is expected to be divided on some issues once in parliament, according to the interior ministry’s results.

“The collapse of the presidential party is total, and no majority is presented,” Melenchon said earlier in the evening, remarking on preliminary results.

“We have achieved the political objective that we had set ourselves, in less than a month, to bring down the one who, with such arrogance, had twisted the arm of the whole country, who had been elected without knowing what for,” he added.

On the other end of the political spectrum, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party meanwhile won a record 89 seats, putting it in third place.

After the new result, Macron became the first sitting French president to not win a parliamentary majority since a 2000 electoral reform.

According to the publication, it is expected to try and form alliances with other political parties, including the traditional rights, which came forth on Sunday.

“This is an unprecedented situation,” said French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, referring to the new “configuration” of power among rival parties resulting from the vote. “Never before has the National Assembly experienced such a configuration under the Fifth Republic,” she added.

“As of tomorrow, we will work on building an action-oriented majority, there is no alternative to that coalition to guarantee our country stability and enact the necessary reforms,” the French PM said.