The left-wing alliance Nouveau Front Popular has become the big winner of the French elections. The far-right Rassemblement National remains in third place.
Barely a week ago, the Rassemblement national of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella emerged as the big winner in the first round of the elections. Their party received 33.1 percent of the votes and a scenario in which the extreme right would come to power in France for the first time suddenly seemed a lot more realistic.
But it won’t come to that. In the second round Rassemblement national gets 143 seats and is therefore far from the 289 seats and the absolute majority that figurehead Marine Le Pen put forward as a condition for forming a government. The Nouveau Popular Front (NFP) – formed by communists, greens, socialists and the radical left La France insoumise (LFI) – wins 182 parliamentarians. President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance is heading for 168 seats.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of La France insoumise, declared himself the victor of the elections on Sunday evening. RN leader Jordan Bardella admitted defeat. He condemned on Sunday this “alliance of dishonour” which, he said, is throwing France “into the arms of the extreme left”. French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced he will tender his resignation to President Macron, but the latter asked him to stay on for now.
What this means for the formation of a new government is still unclear. None of the parties manages to obtain an absolute majority. And although the radical left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon already declared his LFI the winner of the elections, it is difficult to see a scenario in which it can form a coalition.
