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(ABC – Australia) Voting has closed in France, with forecasts suggesting a surprise left-wing coalition will win the most parliamentary seats in a crucial run-off election.
Surprising predictions put President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist coalition in second place and the far-right coalition in third.
Review all the latest updates on the French election in our blog
The far-right National Rally gained a significant increase in seats in parliament, but fell far short of expectations.
Final results of the snap election, which came four weeks after Macron took a gamble that culminated in the election last week, are not expected until late Sunday or early Monday local time.
The deeply unpopular president is predicted to have lost control of parliament.
But the failure of any coalition to secure a majority has plunged France into political and economic turmoil.
The country now faces weeks of political jockeying to decide who will serve as prime minister and lead the National Assembly.
This early election is a huge gamble for Macron.
The move does not appear to have paid off, as he now faces the prospect of leading the country with a prime minister who opposes most of his domestic policies.
Several protests broke out due to incomplete election results.
The protests became quite violent, with flares being set off and some demonstrators using umbrellas to protect themselves from tear gas.
The center-left ruling coalition calls itself the New Popular Front (NPF), taking its name from a similar alliance formed in France in the 1930s to oppose the rise of fascism.
These include environmentalist parties, the French Socialist and Communist parties and the far-left France Insubordinate party.
Prime Minister announces resignation: “A new era has begun”
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced on Sunday that he would submit his resignation on Monday morning local time and said he would continue to perform his duties as long as necessary.
Attar said the early poll results herald a “new era” for the country amid an unprecedented political situation.
“Tonight, the political group I represent fell short of a majority in this election, even though it received three times more votes than had been predicted in recent weeks. Therefore, in keeping with the traditions of the Republican Party and my principles, I will be submitting my resignation to the president,” he told reporters.
“From tomorrow, in accordance with the wishes of the French people, the centre of power will be more than ever concentrated in the hands of Parliament, in the hands of the nation’s representatives, in the hands of our compatriots.
“The values our candidates represent also usher in a new era… From tomorrow, our political space should begin to work on building a new politics that always puts the French people, their lives first, and gives them hope again.”
The New Patriotic Front won the most seats in the second round of parliamentary elections. Its victory is a huge setback for the far right and will split parliament into three camps with very different political platforms and no tradition of cooperation.
Left leader Jean-Luc Melencho said the unexpected result in the legislative elections “came as a relief to the majority of our country”.
However, in a hung parliament, no single group would have been able to secure the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority in the National Assembly, uncharted territory for modern France.
If official statistics bear out that forecast, it would spell huge uncertainty for the European Union pillar and France’s second-largest economy, as it remains unclear who will partner with Macron as French prime minister.
Unlike other European countries accustomed to coalition governments, France has no tradition of representatives from rival political camps coming together to form a valid majority.
Who replaces Attar?
There is no clear answer as to who will be the next French Prime Minister.
Unlike the president, who is the head of state and is directly elected by the public, the prime minister is appointed.
This means Macron decides which party to ask to form a new government and who to nominate as prime minister.
But whoever he chooses will face a vote of confidence in the National Assembly (France’s lower house of parliament) and will need parliament’s support.
With this election looking likely to produce a hung parliament, Macron needs to nominate someone likely to be acceptable to a majority of lawmakers.
There is no indication yet whether the left-leaning coalition will form a government, and it is unlikely that the current centrist leadership will form an alliance with Jean-Luc Melencho’s far-left LFI.
The president may want to strip the Socialists and Greens from the left coalition, isolate Indomitable France, and form a center-left alliance with his own group.
Macron said he would wait for the new parliament to find some kind of “structure” to decide on the next steps.
If neither side can reach a deal, he is also likely to install a government of technocrats – experts outside the political party who run day-to-day affairs but do not oversee structural changes.
The first meeting of the parliament with the newly elected members will be held on July 18 and will last for 15 days.
Far-right party unexpectedly becomes third largest party
France has a bicameral system, with power shared between the president and parliament. The president is elected by the people and appoints the prime minister and cabinet ministers.
The government must have the support of a majority of members of the National Assembly to remain in power.
Macron has had trouble passing legislation through the National Assembly after failing to secure an outright majority in June 2022.
In the country The European Parliament will vote from June 6 to 9the far-right National Front (RN) received more than 30% of the vote, about twice as much as Macron’s party.
Marine Le Pen’s far-right party won 33% of the popular vote in the first round of parliamentary elections last weekend, a result that makes France the closest country to a far-right government since World War II.
But in the second round of elections for the 577-seat National Assembly, the RN appears to be in third place.
In a somber speech after the vote, National League president Jordan Bardella, who would have become prime minister if the far-right had won a majority, denounced pre-vote political rigging that had caused his party to perform far below expectations.
He accused Macron of “pushing France into a situation of uncertainty and instability.”
An unprecedented number of candidates who qualified for the runoff have withdrawn from the race, allowing their opponents to face off against the PN candidate, which increases their chances of defeating him.
“I solemnly declare tonight that depriving millions of French people of the possibility of realizing their ideals can never be a viable destiny for France,” Bardella said.
“Tonight, Emmanuel Macron deliberately took responsibility for paralyzing our institutions, leaving the French people without any answers to their daily problems for months to come.
“Amid a purchasing power crisis, severe insecurity and chaos that plague France, the country has lost its majority, a government that can act and therefore a clear direction to turn France around.”
In announcing early parliamentary elections, Macron said the rise of nationalists was dangerous for both France and Europe.
“I can’t pretend nothing happened,” he said in an address to the nation from the Elysee Palace.
“I have decided to put the choice of our parliament’s future back to you through a vote. Therefore, I will dissolve the National Assembly.”
France’s election campaign ended on Friday with more than 50 candidates and activists facing physical attacks and heightened tensions during the shortest campaign in modern French history.
The snap election in the nuclear-armed state could have ramifications for the war in Ukraine, global diplomacy and Europe’s economic stability.
They will almost certainly undermine Macron’s influence during the remaining three years of his presidency.
ABC/Wire
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