site.btaLeftists Win French Elections, Dealing Surprise Blow to Far Right

An alliance of left-wing parties won a surprising victory in France's snap parliamentary elections on June 30, with a second round of voting held on July 7, AFP said, reporting early results.

The New Popular Front, an alliance of the far-left La France Insoumise, the Socialist Party, The Ecologists and the French Communist Party, among other left-wing forces, will hold between 171 and 187 seats in the new National Assembly (the lower house of the country's Parliament) according to exit polls.

A month after French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved Parliament, the Ensemble coalition of pro-Macron forces placed second in the elections, gaining between 152 and 163 seats, compared with 250 seats in the previous National Assembly. The presidential camp showed surprising resilience, considering that sociologists had predicted poorer performance of the coalition, AFP commented.

Third place went to the National Rally, which won between 134 and 152 seats. Having won the first round, Marine Le Pen's party ended far from power after the second round, when its score was lower than expected.

The Republicans, a conservative party, came in fourth, with 61 to 67 seats in the new National Assembly.

Radical left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, who represents the New Popular Front, was the first to react publicly. He urged Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, supported by the pro-Macron camp, to resign and leave the leftist alliance go govern.

Marine Le Pen commented: "The tide is rising, but it didn't rise quite high enough this time." She concluded: "Our victory has merely been delayed."

Macron did not make a statement, but the Elysee Palace said the President was analyzing the election results and would wait to see the full picture in Parliament before deciding whom to ask to form a government. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said he will resign on Monday, July 8, but added that he is ready to retain his post for as long as necessary.

France, one of the pillars of the European Union, found itself in the uncharted waters of three-party rule and lack of political majority two days before NATO's Washington Summit and three weeks ahead of the Paris Olympics. None of the three main political blocs in the country will hold the necessary minimum of 289 seats in the National Assembly to have an absolute majority and be able to form a government on its own.

Voter turnout was 67%, the highest since 1981. The so-called republican front, created by pro-Macron forces and the left wing between the two rounds of the elections with an aim to limit the rise of the far right that won the first round, proved successful. Still, it remains unclear what the next government will look like.

Voters blighted the hopes of the National Rally to put together a cabinet, which would be the first far-right French government since World War II. The party may find comfort in the fact that it will have an unprecedentedly large number of seats in the National Assembly.