PARIS (AP) – French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance is expected to retain its parliamentary majority after Sunday’s first round of voting, but is likely to have far fewer seats than five years ago, according to projections.
Projections based on by-election results showed that nationally, Macron’s party and its allies garnered about 25% -26% of the vote. That went down the road with estimates for a new left-wing coalition made up of hard-left, socialist and green left supporters. However, Macron’s candidates are expected to win in a larger number of districts than their left-wing rivals, giving the president a majority.
More than 6,000 candidates, aged between 18 and 92, ran for the 57th seat in the French National Assembly on Sunday in the first round of elections.
France’s two-round voting system is complex and disproportionate to national support for a party. For the races that did not have a decisive winner on Sunday, up to four candidates who have obtained at least 12.5% support will each compete in a second round of voting on June 19th.
Following Macron’s re-election in May, his centrist coalition sought an absolute majority that would allow him to deliver on his campaign promises, which include tax cuts and raising France’s retirement age from 62 to 65.
However, Sunday’s projection shows that Macron’s party and allies could have trouble getting more than half of the seats in the Assembly, much less than five years ago, when they won 361 seats. Poll agencies estimated that Macron’s centrists could win from 255 to more than 300 seats, while the left-wing coalition led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon could win more than 200 seats.
Sunday’s turnout reached an all-time low for parliamentary elections, with less than half of France’s 48.7 million voters.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said “we have a week of action, a week to convince, a week to get a strong and clear majority”.
“In the face of the world situation and the war at the gates of Europe, we cannot run the risk of instability,” he said, urging voters to rally behind Macron’s alliance in the second round. “In the face of extremes, we will not give up.”
Mélenchon, who hoped the election would include him as prime minister, did not accept the preliminary projections, insisting his coalition was the first.
“The number of seats projections at this time make no sense,” he said.
Mélenchon urged the French to choose the candidates of his coalition in the second round and “definitively reject the condemned projects of the majority of Macron.” Its platform included a significant increase in the minimum wage, lowering the retirement age to 60 and blocking energy prices, which have skyrocketed due to the war in Ukraine.
Although Macron defeated far-right rival Marine Le Pen in the second round of the presidential election, France’s parliamentary elections have traditionally been a difficult race for far-right candidates. Rivals from other parties tend to coordinate or side with each other to increase the chances of defeating far-right candidates in the second round.
Projections showed that Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party could win 10 to 30 seats, up from eight five years ago. If it exceeds the threshold of 15 seats, it can form a parliamentary group and gain more power in the assembly.
Le Pen, who ran for re-election in his stronghold of Henin-Beaumont in northern France, praised Sunday’s results.
“Next Sunday, it is important not to let Emmanuel Macron get the absolute majority, which he will abuse to implement his egocentric and brutal methods and impose his anti-social project,” he said.
Le Pen has called on voters to vote blank or not to go to the polls in districts that only have Macron or Mélenchon candidates.
Outside a polling station in a working-class district of Paris, voters debated whether to support Macron’s party for the sake of sound governance and avoid extremist views, or support its opponents. to ensure that more political perspectives are heard.
“When you have a parliament that is not completely in line with the government, that allows for more interesting conversations and discussions,” said Dominique Debarre, a retired scientist. “But on the other hand, (a split) is always somehow a sign of failure.”
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Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris, Daniel Cole in Marseille and Alex Turnbull in Le Touquet, France contributed.