Macron was only confirmed as president in April. Now he had to take a hit with the first round of parliamentary elections. According to projections, the new left-wing alliance NUPES, led by leftist veteran Jean-Luc Melenchon, was almost on par with Macron’s alliance, Ensemble, at around 25% each.
The 577 parliamentary seats are filled according to the first-past-the-post system. The candidate who obtains an absolute majority in the respective constituency is elected. In most constituencies, this will not be the case until the second round. According to estimates by various institutes, the Macron alliance could win 255 to 310 seats, the leftist alliance 150 to 210 seats.
still very open
Until now, the president can count on an absolute majority in the National Assembly, which requires at least 289 seats. Whether Macron can defend this absolute will only become clear in the second round of parliamentary elections next Sunday.
With a slim majority, Macron’s camp would have to fear any defector. If Macron’s electoral alliance loses its absolute majority, the government will have to rely on changing majorities.
Leading Left Alliance representatives pointed out that they qualified for the second round in about 500 constituencies. That means the race for the majority is still open. In fact, just a few weeks ago, no one expected the leftist alliance. The field put several competing candidates in contention for the presidential election in April. Melenchon at least managed the political coup to temporarily unite the camp.
Report on the French elections
Cornelia Primosch, correspondent for the ZIB, reports on the first round of parliamentary elections in France and on the possible consequences of cohabitation if the president needs a majority.
Big plans are now unstable
It would then be more difficult for Macron to govern and implement his plans. These include reforms to education and health systems, as well as purchasing power aids. Environmental policy should also have more focus, in addition to renewable energy, Macron is mainly focusing on the expansion of nuclear energy. The controversial pension reform is also high on the agenda. Macron wants to raise the retirement age to 65, Melenchon wants to lower it to 60. There have already been serious protests during the first attempt at reform, which was canceled due to the pandemic.
Reuters/Eric Gaillard Melenchon scored a victory, but the right to vote threw a wrench into the works
After the first round of voting on Sunday, no one wanted to be seen as a loser. New Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne saw political opponents of the centrist alliance with no chance of a majority. “We are the only political force capable of winning a majority in the National Assembly,” Borne said late on Sunday. The prime minister also indirectly warned of further strengthening of the left. “We cannot risk instability.”
Melenchon counted the partial results as a victory. “The truth is that the presidential party is defeated and defeated in the first round,” he said in Paris on Sunday night. “Given this result and the extraordinary opportunity it represents for our personal lives and for the future of our common homeland, I ask our people to leave next Sunday, of course, to definitively reject the fateful projects of the majority of Mr Macron”, he said. Look at the second shift in a week.
Le Pen: “Immense victory”
Right-wing populist Marine Le Pen says she is entering the second round of elections next Sunday in her constituency in Henin-Beaumont. According to her predictions, her right-wing nationalist party Rassemblement Nacional (RN) reached about 19%, but only managed to hold ten to 45 seats because of ostracism from the other parties. Le Pen, however, described his party’s performance as a “great victory” and called for President Macron’s camp not to have an absolute majority in the second round.
The strongest opposition force so far, the conservative Republicans, has fallen with allies to just 11 to 14 percent or 40 to 80 seats. French Conservative leader Christian Jacob, however, saw his party as an important political force for years to come. “You can see that we are able to play a decisive role in this legislature between the voice of the extremes and the impasse led by President Macron’s majority,” Jacob said Sunday night on France 2 channel.
Great electoral fatigue
In the second round, next Sunday, the candidates of the electoral alliance of the left and the populists of the right will face each other in many electoral districts. However, the voter alliance of Macron’s Ensemble does not want to make a general recommendation for the vote, but decide on a case-by-case basis.
After the two rounds of presidential elections in April, many French people are tired of voting. Participation fell to another low on Sunday, estimated at 47 to 48 percent. Not even every second voter would have voted with him.