Emmanuel Macron, confirmed as head of the Elysium just two months ago, it comes out defeated by the French legislative elections. The coalition of him”Together” collapses from 341 to 245 seats, far below the 289 needed to have an absolute majority in the National Assembly.
French elections: the results of Mélenchon and Le Pen
The left coalition Nudes, Led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, becomes the main opposition force, with 135 deputies, but the most spectacular exploit is that of Marine Le Pen: his National Gathering (formerly Front National) goes up from eight to about 89 deputies. A revenge for the far-right sovereign leader, beaten in the April presidential ballot.
Abstentionism
As for abstention, it was particularly high: fewer than one out of two French people voted (46%).
With whom will Macron govern?
At this point, Macron will have to look for allies to govern. There are two most likely possibilities:
- The President could turn right and try to tighten a government pact with the neo-Gaullists, which have 78 deputies. The secretary of the Républicains, Christian Jacob, has ruled out this hypothesis for the moment: "We will be in the opposition". But that's not to say it's a definitive no.
- Alternatively, Macron would be forced to navigate on sight, with variable geometry majorities on every single reform to be brought to Parliament.
In France, such a complicated situation had not even occurred since 1988, when, however, Prime Minister Michel Rocard – with François Mitterrand at the Elysée – lacked only about fifteen deputies for an absolute majority.
The specter of new early elections
Many already predict that Macron, due to his ungovernability, will be forced to dissolve the National Assembly before the end of his mandate. Also because Mélenchon and Le Pen promise a tough opposition, also with recourse to parliamentary instruments that have not been used so far such as the "motion of censure" against the government, which could lead to his resignation if it is adopted by the majority of deputies.
