From the initial reactions of the party leaders involved, no solution was initially in sight. Macron was rejected by conservative Republicans. His party “will not enter into a pact or a coalition,” party leader Christian Jacob said after talks with Macron in Paris on Tuesday.
“I’m not German, we have a different political system,” conservative Jacob told France Inter before speaking to Macron. In France, coalitions so far have been uncommon. As Macron’s Ensemble electoral alliance, located in the political center, has lost its absolute majority, a coalition with the Republicans would be the obvious choice – at least in purely mathematical terms. The leadership of former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative party quickly made it clear that it wanted to remain in the opposition. “We’re not the spare wheel,” Jacob emphasized.
Meanwhile, Macron rejected a resignation call from Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Tuesday morning. The Élysée Palace announced that it wanted her to remain in office and for the government to remain able to act. The resignation of the current government after parliamentary elections in France is usual and more of a formal act, but now the situation is special. In Sunday’s election, the president’s center field did not obtain an absolute majority, but only a simple majority, a situation that did not exist in France for more than 30 years.
The cabinet meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday has been cancelled. Prime Minister Borne summoned the ministers to a government meeting in the afternoon. Two women ministers and a secretary of state in the incumbent government have to step down anyway because they didn’t win their constituency in Sunday’s election. Macron had established this rule before the election. The government reform is planned for the next few days. Which party or group in Parliament Macron gains support from is likely to have an impact. Whether Borne will remain head of government in the long term is an open question.
According to the official provisional final result, Macron’s camp reached 245 out of 577 seats on Sunday and therefore lost an absolute majority. The new leftist alliance, led by leftist politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon, won 131 seats. Marine Le Pen’s right-wing national party Rassemblement National won 89 seats. The traditional Republican People’s Party and its allies won 74 seats, a bitter loss.
Left-wing politician Mélenchon continued to bite the granite on Tuesday with his effort, which he had started the day before, to move into parliament with the left-wing alliance as a joint group. On the other hand, Socialists, Communists and Greens continue to insist on the rule that each party act independently in Parliament. This reduces the influence of the Eurosceptic Mélenchon. His left-wing party alone is only the third strongest force in parliament, behind the right-wing Rassemblement National and Macron’s middle camp. The left alliance with all partners together would be the strongest opposition group.