THE NEW POPULAR FRONT left alliance has come out on top in the second round of voting in the French parliamentary elections, winning a predicted 172-192 seats in the National Assembly, according to projections.
President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble group is set to win 150-170 seats. The far-right alliance dominated by the National Rally came in third place with a projected 132-152 seats, while the conservative Republicans are predicted to win between 57 and 67 seats.
No group has won an outright majority, which requires at least 289 of the Assembly’s 577 seats.
The victory for the French left over the National Rally (RN) means France has decided against being governed by the far-right, something polls and the first round vote had indicated was a distinct possibility.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the largest party in the NFP, called on Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to resign in his victory speech.
“Our people have clearly rejected the worst-case scenario,” said the three-time presidential candidate of the France Unbowed party. “The prime minister has to go… The New Popular Front is ready to govern.”
Prime Minister Attal has since said that he will offer Macron his resignation tomorrow.
But he added that, if his resignation is refused, he was ready to remain in office “as long as duty demands”, with the Paris Olympics due to begin in three weeks.
It is unclear who might be the left alliance’s top candidate to be prime minister, with Melenchon a divisive figure even among some supporters of his own party.
The leader of the Socialist Party (PS) Olivier Faure urged “democracy” within the left-wing alliance so they could work together.
“To move forward together we need democracy within our ranks,” he said.
“No outside remarks will come and impose themselves on us,” he said in a thinly veiled criticism of Melenchon.
Raphael Glucksmann, co-president of the smaller pro-European Place Publique party in the alliance, said everyone was going to have to “behave like adults”.
In the projections, “we’re ahead, but in a divided parliament… so people are going to have to behave like adults,” he said.
“People are going to have to talk to each other.”
Nous avons arraché un résultat qu'on nous disait impossible.
— Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) July 7, 2024
Notre peuple a clairement refusé la solution du pire pour lui. Le RN est loin de la majorité absolue que certains lui prédisaient.
C'est un immense soulagement pour la Nouvelle France.#ElectionsLegislatives2024 pic.twitter.com/atALba1kR3
Today’s second round of voting saw another large turnout, with almost 60% of the electorate having cast their votes by 5pm local time today, putting it on track to be the highest in four decades.
The mood in France has been tense, with 30,000 police deployed to head off trouble and many voters worrying over the outcome of the election.
There were scenes of jubilation on the streets of Paris when the projections, which are based on samples of ballots, were announced.
The snap National Assembly elections were called by President Emmanuel Macron following a decisive defeat to the RN in European Parliamentary elections last month, to the shock of many of his supporters and colleagues.
The NFP was quickly formed following Macron’s shock dissolution of the National Assembly and is composed of parties from the Communists and France Unbowed on the left and the Socialists, who are the traditional centre-left party. The grouping also includes the Green Party.
Following the RN’s success in the first round, political parties on the far left and in the centre had formed what is known as a Republican Front, withdrawing candidates from three-way races in today’s second round, with the aim of keeping far-right candidates out.
RN party leader Jordan Bardella slammed “an alliance of dishonour” between President Emmanuel Macron’s centrists and the left.
While hailing the “most important breakthrough of all its (the RN’s) history”, he told supporters that “these electoral pacts have thrown France into the arms of the extreme left.”
The party’s three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said the RN’s rise to power had only been “delayed.”
“The tide is rising. It did not rise high enough this time, but it continues to rise and, consequently, our victory has only been delayed,” Le Pen said.
The NFP has promised to increase taxes on the wealthy and introduce taxes on windfall profits for businesses, with the aim of reversing Macron’s increase to the retirement age and funding social services.
The centre-left influence can be seen in the area of foreign policy, where the group says it will maintain support for Ukraine.
The NFP has said it wants a “total break” from Macron’s economic policies.
The alliance of parties on the left has pledged to raise €30 billion a year from taxing businesses and the rich, promising to use the money to reverse Macron’s deeply unpopular pension reform that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The group wants to increase benefits and civil service wages, impose price controls on some essential goods, lower the retirement age to 60 and index pensions to wages. They also want to increase the minimum wage by 15%.
The alliance aims to bring in the €30 billion from its new tax policies.
With reporting from AFP
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