A coalition of the French left won
the most seats in high-stakes
legislative elections Sunday, beating back a far-right surge
but failing to win a majority. The outcome left France, a pillar of the
European Union and Olympic host country, facing the stunning prospect of a hung
parliament and political paralysis.
The political turmoil could rattle
markets and the French economy, the EU’s second-largest, and have far-ranging
implications for the war in
Ukraine, global diplomacy and Europe’s economic stability.
In calling the
election on June 9, after the far right surged in French voting for
the European Parliament, President Emmanuel Macron said turning to voters again
would provide “clarification.”
On almost every level, that gamble
appears to have backfired. According to the official
results released early Monday, all three main blocs fell far short
of the 289 seats needed to control the 577-seat National Assembly, the more
powerful of France’s two legislative chambers.
The results showed
just over 180 seats for the New Popular Front leftist coalition, which placed
first, ahead of Macron’s centrist alliance, with more than 160 seats. Marine Le
Pen’s far-right National Rally and its allies were restricted to third place,
although their more than 140 seats were still way ahead of the party’s previous
best showing — 89 seats in 2022.
A hung parliament is unknown territory for modern France.
“Our country is
facing an unprecedented political situation and is preparing to welcome the
world in a few weeks,” said Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who plans to offer
his resignation later in the day.
With
the Paris
Olympics looming, Attal said he was ready to stay
at his post “as long as duty demands.” Macron has three years remaining on his
presidential term.
Attal made clearer than ever his disapproval of Macron’s
shock decision to call the election, saying “I didn’t choose this dissolution”
of the outgoing National Assembly, where the president’s centrist alliance used
to be single biggest group, albeit without an absolute majority. Still, it was
able to govern for two years, pulling in lawmakers from other camps to fight
off efforts to bring it down.
The new legislature
appears shorn of such stability. When Macron flies to Washington for a summit this
week of the NATO alliance, he will leave a country with
no clear idea who may be its next prime minister and facing the prospect that
the president may be obliged to share power with a politician deeply opposed to
his policies.
Still, many rejoiced. In Paris’ Stalingrad square, supporters
on the left cheered and applauded as projections showing the alliance ahead
flashed up on a giant screen. Cries of joy also rang out in Republique plaza in
eastern Paris, with people spontaneously hugging strangers and several minutes
of nonstop applause after the projections landed.
Marielle Castry, a medical secretary, was on the Metro in
Paris when projected results were first announced.
“Everybody had their smartphones and were waiting for the
results and then everybody was overjoyed,” said the 55-year-old. “I had been stressed
out since June 9 and the European elections. ... And now, I feel good.
Relieved.”
A redrawn political map
Even before votes were cast, the
election redrew France’s political map. It galvanized parties on the left to
put differences aside and join together in the new leftist alliance. It pledges
to roll back many of Macron’s headline reforms, embark on a massively costly
program of public spending and take a far tougher line against Israel because
of the war with Hamas.
Macron described the left’s
coalition as “extreme” and warned that its economic program of many tens of
billions of euros in public spending, partly financed by tax hikes for high
earners and on wealth, could be ruinous for France, already criticized by EU
watchdogs for its debt.
Yet, the New Popular Front’s leaders
immediately pushed Macron to give the alliance the first chance to form a
government and propose a prime minister.
The most prominent of the leftist
coalition’s leaders, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said it “is ready to govern.”
While the National
Rally took more seats than ever, the anti-immigration party with historical
links to antisemitism
and racism fell far short of its hopes of
securing an absolute majority that would have given France its first far-right
government since World War II.
“Disappointed, disappointed,” said far-right supporter Luc
Doumont, 66. “Well, happy to see our progression, because for the past few
years we’ve been doing better.”
After the party finished top of the first-round vote last
weekend, its rivals worked to dash its hopes of outright victory Sunday, by
strategically withdrawing candidates from many districts. That left many
far-right candidates in head-to-head contests against just one opponent, making
it harder for them to win.
Many voters decided that keeping the far right from power was
more important to them than anything else, backing its opponents in the runoff,
even if they weren’t from the political camp they usually support.
Still, National Rally leader Le Pen, expected to make a
fourth run for the French presidency in 2027, said the elections laid the
groundwork for “the victory of tomorrow.”
“The reality is that our victory is only deferred,” she
added. But Le Pen’s older sister, Marie-Caroline, was among her party’s losers
Sunday, defeated by a leftist candidate and just 225 votes in her district.
Jordan Bardella,
Le Pen’s 28-year-old protégé who’d been hoping to become prime minister, rued
that the national outcome “throws France into the arms of the extreme left.”
A statement from Macron’s office indicated that he wouldn’t
be rushed into inviting a potential prime minister to form a government. It
said he was watching as results came in and would wait for the new National
Assembly to take shape before taking “the necessary decisions.”
Unknown
territory
Unlike other countries in Europe that are more accustomed to
coalition governments, France doesn’t have a tradition of lawmakers from rival
political camps coming together to form a majority. France is also more
centralized than many other European countries, with many more decisions made
in Paris.
The president was hoping that with France’s fate in their
hands, voters might shift from the far right and left and return to mainstream
parties closer to the center — where Macron found much of the support that won
him the presidency in 2017 and again in 2022.
But rather than rally behind him, millions of voters seized
on his surprise decision as an opportunity to vent their anger about inflation,
crime, immigration and other grievances — including Macron’s style of
government.
The sharp polarization of French politics – especially in
this torrid and quick campaign – is sure to complicate any effort to form a
government. Racism and antisemitism marred the electoral campaign, along with Russian disinformation campaigns,
and more than 50 candidates reported being physically attacked — highly unusual
for France.