Emmanuel Macron loses the absolute majority in the parliament

Emmanuel Macron loses the absolute majority in the parliament. 

President Emmanuel Macron and his supporters in the National Assembly lost their absolute majority and, with it, control of the reform program on Sunday, a humiliating defeat for the freshly re-elected president. 

Initial forecasts predicted that Macron’s centrist Ensemble! The coalition would gain the most seats in Sunday’s election, followed by the left-wing Nupes group led by hard-left veteran Jean-Luc Melenchon. 

Macron and his supporters, on the other hand, would fall well short of the absolute majority required to rule parliament, and ministers and close advisers recognized as much, saying they would now have to reach out to those outside their coalition to lead the nation.

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Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire described the result as a “democratic shock” and promised to reach out to all pro-Europeans for assistance in governing the nation.

“The presidential party’s defeat is complete, and no clear majority is in sight,” Melenchon told jubilant supporters.

Left-wing parties were expected to increase their vote total from the last parliamentary election in 2017, but they fell short of the absolute victory Melenchon had hoped for.

A hung parliament, if confirmed, would usher in a period of political uncertainty that would need a level of power-sharing among parties not seen in recent decades in France, or political gridlock and potentially repeat elections.

Rachida Dati of Les Republicains, a conservative party, branded the vote “a devastating setback” for Macron and suggested that he choose a new prime minister.

There is no fixed screenplay for how things will play out in France today as Macron and Ensemble try to find a path to prevent gridlock.

In April, Macron, 44, became the first French president to win a second term in two decades. 

Still, he now leads a profoundly disillusioned and divided nation, with support for populist groups on both the right and left surging.

His ability to continue reforming the euro zone’s second-largest economy would be contingent on his ability to gather moderates on the right and left outside his coalition behind his legislative agenda.

According to Ifop, OpinionWay, Elabe, and Ipsos pollsters, Macron’s Ensemble coalition will gain 210-240 seats, while Nupes will get 149-188 seats.