French elections: Leftist alliance projected to win most seats in surprise swing


Key Points
  • Early predictions from France’s parliamentary elections showed no party held enough seats to form a majority.
  • A left-wing coalition is in the lead, with the president’s centrist alliance in second and the right-wing RN third.
  • French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has offered his resignation following the early results of the snap election.
French political parties face the daunting task of putting together a government after the second round of elections threw up a hung parliament, with the New Popular Front leftist alliance unexpectedly taking the top spot ahead of the far right.
The results of Sunday’s election, based on pollsters’ projections, were a setback for Marine Le Pen’s nationalist National Rally (RN), which opinion polls had predicted would be the largest party, but which placed only third.
They were also a blow for centrist President Emmanuel Macron, who called the ballot after his ticket was trounced in a European Parliament election last month. Polls put his centrist alliance in second place.
The election will leave parliament divided into three big groups — the left, centrists, and the far right, with hugely different platforms and no tradition of working together.

There will likely be weeks of intense political negotiations to choose a new prime minister and form a government.

Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party failed to achieve an expected majority of the votes. Source: ABACA / Lafargue Raphael/PA

Final results are not expected until late on Monday in the highly volatile snap election, which was called just four weeks ago in a huge gamble for Macron.

Macron’s office said the president would “wait for the new National Assembly to organise itself” before making any decisions.
The president of the National Rally claimed historic gains for the party and blamed Macron for “pushing France into uncertainty and instability”.

In a sombre speech after the second-round legislative election, Jordan Bardella denounced the political manoeuvring that led the National Rally to fall far short of expectations.

French PM Gabriel Attal to resign

French prime minister Gabriel Attal says he will hand his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron, adding he will carry out his functions as long as required.

Attal said the far right could not form an absolute majority following Sunday’s elections and that France was embarking on a new era.

A man speaking at a lectern in front of a building.

France’s prime minister Gabriel Attal has announced he will hand in his resignation. Source: AAP / Valentina Camu/EPA

“Tonight, the (political) extremes have no absolute majority, thanks to our determination and the strength of our values. We (centrists) have three times more MPs than were predicted at the start of this campaign,” Attal said.

“Being prime minister was the honour of my life. This evening the political group that I represent no longer has a majority and tomorrow morning I will submit my resignation to the president.”



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