With the most ballots counted, the results showed that the Melanson Alliance — the New Ecological and Social Popular Union (Nupes) – and Macron’s central Ensemble (Together) were the main winners and would be the two largest groups in the assembly. . Melanson’s success, however, is unlikely to translate into a majority in the 577-seat assembly, as moderate voters skeptical of his reputation as a far-left, Eurosceptic firearm are expected to rally on Macron’s side in the second round. According to the first forecasts of the pollsters, Macron’s team will maintain control and will end up with between 275 and 310 seats, against 180-210 of Melanson. A party or alliance needs 289 seats for an absolute majority. Melanson called on voters to “go to the polls” for next Sunday’s second round of voting “to finally reject Mr Macron’s disastrous plans” and to speak out after “30 years of neoliberalism”. Macron’s Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne has criticized the political extremists who oppose her government, saying: “We are the only political force that can win a majority in the National Assembly. . . “Given the global situation and the war at the gates of Europe, we can not take the risk of instability.” Each geographic constituency elects its own deputy, and in many cases the choice of voters has been reduced from about a dozen candidates in the first round to just two in the second. In most cases, the second round will be between Macron and Melanson’s candidate. Ballot boxes from the first round of the French parliamentary elections empty for counting on Sunday in Strasbourg © AP The results, seven weeks after Macron defeated far-right leader Marine Le Pen and convincingly won a second term as president, mark a dramatic return for the French left after five years in political desolation. Under the leadership of Melanson – a 70-year-old political veteran who came third in the presidential election just behind Le Pen and had previously signaled his resignation – the left will at least be able to create a vocal opposition in parliament against Macron as he seeks a legislative agenda. continue its economic reforms. In 2017, after ousting his Socialist and center-right opponents to win his first term as president, Macron saw his candidates win full control of the National Assembly in the ensuing parliamentary elections. This time, if the central Ensemble alliance does not secure a majority in the Assembly, the president will need the support of other parties, such as the conservative Les Républicains, to pass laws, for example, to extend the retirement age from 62 to 65 for a proposed reform of the pension system. In the unlikely event that Melanson’s Nupes alliance wins a majority next week, Macron will remain in control of foreign policy and defense, but will have to nominate a prime minister backed by more than half of the assembly. “Cohabites”. with a government hostile to its economic policies. Like citizens in other liberal democracies, including the United States, the French in recent years have become increasingly frustrated and turn to nationalist and populist politicians for solutions. Some results from the Interior Ministry showed that more than half of French voters did not bother to vote on Sunday, indicating a record low turnout of about 47 percent for this type of election. French politics is now divided into three major camps, with Macron and his allies at the center, Le Pen leading the nationalists against immigration to the far right, and Melanson leading his new left-green alliance, which includes his own. La. France Insoumise (France Unbowed) and the Socialist and Communist parties. Le Pen’s Rassemblement National party secured about 20 percent of the vote Sunday and is expected to win 10 to 25 seats in the National Assembly, while the Les Républicains on the right receive between 40 and 60 seats in the early run. Among those who failed to make the cut in Sunday’s election was Éric Zemmour, the far-right star of the television talk show, who had already lost the presidential race and could not replace Le Pen as leader of the French far right. In the first round of the presidential election in April, almost 60 percent of French voters chose a candidate from the far right or the far left.
