Macron, allies on course to lose parliamentary majority: Polls
Projections coming out of France’s run-off parliamentary elections put President Emanuel Macron’s “Together!” alliance on course to lose its parliamentary majority amid unprecedented gains by the coalition’s hard-left and hard-right challengers.
The second round was held on Sunday after Macron’s re-election in April fell short of granting him a decisive mandate.
Forecasts by pollsters Ifop, OpinionWay, Elabe, and Ipsos showed the coalition would be winning 200-260 seats in the National Assembly, still well short of the 289 it needs to pass laws.
Macron has been campaigning on a ticket to bring about tax cuts and welfare reforms. He is now likely to either seek an alliance with the conservative Les Republicains or run a minority government that will have to negotiate laws with other parties on a case-by-case basis.
The results are "far from what we hoped," Budget Minister Gabriel Attal said on the TF1 channel. "It is clear the French did not give us an overall majority."
Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti told BFM television, "We're in first place but it's a first place that is obviously disappointing."
‘Total defeat’
The preliminary results gave the new left-wing coalition NUPES under 70-year-old hard-left figurehead Jean-Luc Melenchon, 149-200 seats.
Addressing his supporters, Melenchon said the results indicated a “total defeat” for Macron.
The left only had 60 seats in the outgoing parliament, meaning they could triple their representation.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen's National Rally party was, meanwhile, on track to send 60-102 MPs to the new parliament, after having only eight seats in the outgoing legislature.
"This group will be by far the biggest in the history of our political family," Le Pen told cheering supporters in her political fiefdom in northern France, Henin-Beaumont.
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