Predictions based on individual election results showed that nationally, Macron’s party and its allies received about 25 to 26 percent of the vote. They joined a new left-wing coalition made up of supporters of the hard left, the Socialists and the Greens. However, Macron’s candidates are projected to win more constituencies than their left-wing opponents, giving the president a majority. More than 6,000 candidates were vying for 577 seats in the French National Assembly in the first round of elections. France’s two-round voting system is complex and disproportionate to national support for a party. For races that did not have a decisive winner on Sunday, up to four candidates who received at least 12.5 percent support will each run in a run-off on June 19th. A voter votes in Marseille, in southern France, on Sunday. (Daniel Cole / The Associated Press) Following Macron’s re-election in May, his center-right coalition sought an absolute majority that would allow him to deliver on his campaign promises, which include tax cuts and raising France’s retirement age from 62 to 65. However, Sunday’s run shows that Macron’s party and allies could have trouble getting more than half of the seats in the National Assembly, much less than five years ago, when they won 361 seats. Polling agencies estimated that Macron’s centrists could win 255 to more than 300 seats, while the hard-line left-wing NUPES bloc led by Jean-Luc Melanson could win more than 200 seats. The National Assembly has the last word on the Senate when it comes to voting on laws. Sunday’s turnout was at an all-time low for the parliamentary elections, with less than half of France’s 48.7 million voters voting. Consumer concerns about rising inflation have dominated the campaign, but voter enthusiasm has waned. The lack of an absolute majority for Macron would force him to enter into unruly bill deals with right-wing parties and could cause a cabinet reshuffle. No poll showed that NUPES won the governing majority – a scenario that would push France into an unstable period of cohabitation where the president and prime minister come from different political groups. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon speaks to supporters in Marseille on Sunday. (Daniel Cole / The Associated Press) Mélenchon’s platform includes a significant increase in the minimum wage, a reduction in the retirement age to 60 and a lock-in of energy prices, which have skyrocketed due to the war in Ukraine. He is an anti-globalization firefighter who has called on France to leave NATO and “disobey” the rules of the European Union. Macron defeated his far-right opponent Marin Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election and the parliamentary elections in France are traditionally a difficult race for far-right candidates. Opponents from other parties tend to coordinate or step aside to increase their chances of defeating far-right candidates in the second round of voting. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen leaves a polling station in Hénin-Beaumont in northern France on Sunday. (Michel Spingler / The Associated Press) Le Pen’s far-right National Rally hopes to do better than it did five years ago, when it won eight seats. With at least 15 seats, the far right could form a parliamentary group and gain more power in the National Assembly. Le Pen herself is a candidate for re-election in her stronghold, Hénin-Beaumont, in northern France, where she voted on Sunday.
