Gains by new left alliance and historic surge by the far right cast uncertainty over Macron’s second term
Emmanuel Macron’s centrist grouping has lost its absolute majority in parliament, amid gains by a new left alliance and a historic surge by the far right, according to projected results in Sunday’s election., known for his top-down approach to power, now enters his second term facing uncertainty over how he will deliver domestic policies, such as raising the retirement age and overhauling state benefits.
But the most striking result of the night came for Marine Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration National Rally party, which was forecast to increase its seats from eight in 2017 to about 90 – a historic high for a party that in the past has struggled to make gains in the first-past-the-post parliamentary voting system.
Mélenchon’s France Unbowed party now leads a broader left coalition, known as the Nupes, or the New Popular Ecological and Social Union. Within the left alliance’s projected 141 seats, the Green party increased its showing to about 28 seats and the Socialists took about 22. Clémentine Autain, a close ally of Mélenchon, described the united left’s result as a “breakthrough”.
The economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, called the results a “democratic shock” which he defined by the big push of the far right. He said the results reflected the “big worries” of the French electorate, but Macron’s policy plans could still be resumed as “work, security,Le Maire said Macron was the only person to have the “democratic legitimacy” to decide that project and to reach out a hand to others in parliament to “move forward”.
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