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Despite a historically low turnout in France’s parliamentary elections, it was expected that the party of French President Emmanuel Macron and his allies would barely get a majority after the first round, according to initial projections.
Projections based on the by-election results showed that at the national level, Macron’s party won about 25-26% of the vote, which put them side by side with a new coalition of candidates. hard left.
French President Emmanuel Macron greets when he leaves the polling station after voting in the first round of the French parliamentary elections in Le Touquet, northern France, on Sunday, June 12, 2022. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP )
However, Macron’s candidates are expected to win in a larger number of districts than their left-wing rivals, giving the president a majority.
Some 6,000 candidates ran for 577 seats in the French National Assembly on Sunday in the first round of elections. The two-round voting system is complex and disproportionate to national support for a party. For the French races that did not have a decisive winner on Sunday, up to four candidates who get at least 12.5% support will compete in a second round of voting on June 19.
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Kitchen table issues have dominated the campaign, but voter enthusiasm has been silenced. At Sunday’s turnout, less than half of the 48.7 million French voters had voted.
Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who hoped the election would bring him to the post of prime minister, was only among a handful of voters when he voted in Marseille, a southern port city.
The figure of the hard left Jean-Luc Melenchon voted in the first round of parliamentary elections on Sunday, June 12, 2022, in Marseille, southern France. (Photo by AP / Daniel Cole)
Following Macron’s re-election in May, his centrist coalition sought an absolute majority that would allow him to deliver on his campaign promises such as reducing taxes and raising France’s retirement age from 62 to 65.
However, Sunday’s projection showed that Macron’s party and allies could have trouble getting more than half of the seats in the Assembly. A government with a large (but not absolute) majority could still govern, but it should seek the support of opposition lawmakers.
Electoral agencies estimated that Macron’s centrists could win from 255 to more than 300 seats, while Mélenchon’s left-wing coalition could win more than 200 seats. The National Assembly has the final say on the Senate when it comes to passing laws.
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The Mélenchon platform includes a significant increase in the minimum wage, the reduction of the retirement age to 60 and the blocking of energy prices, which have skyrocketed due to the war in Ukraine. It is an anti-globalization brand that has called for France to withdraw from NATO and “disobey” EU rules.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.