Emmanuel Macron avoided that which he feared the most in France‘s stunning parliamentary elections yesterday as Marine Le Pen’s hard-right National Rally failed to scoop an absolute majority, instead suffering a shock defeat.
THE TENSION IN FRANCE
But France’s political landscape has instead been plunged into turmoil, with a hard-left alliance scoring a surprise victory that resulted in a hung parliament – and a man Macron sees as a left-wing extremist now baying for his blood.
Defying the predictions of political experts, French polls and the world’s media, the New Popular Front alliance (NFP) – led by Jean-Luc Melenchon and his France Unbowed party (LFI) – came from behind to eke out a victory with 182 seats in parliament ahead of President Macron’s centrist ‘Together’ coalition on 168.
The hard-right National Rally (RN) emerged from yesterday’s elections in third place with just 143 seats, despite having led the race convincingly after the first round of elections just one week ago.
In a stunning example of political conniving, last week saw Macron’s centrists and members of the NFP work together to block a hard-right majority.
More than 200 left-wing or centrist candidates withdrew after the first round to avoid splitting votes, building a united Republican front to crush RN hopes of an absolute majority.
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WHAT WILL LIKELY HAPPEN
But the surprise result leaves French politics in chaos. The overwhelming majority of seats are now split between three factions, all of whom harbour very different ideas about the future of France with little interest in forming a coalition.
Such chaos is reflected on the streets of France where thousands upon thousands of protesters violently clashed with riot police, set fire to electric bikes, threw flares and smashed up property – a mere three weeks before Paris is set to host the Olympic Games.
