Macron loses absolute majority and political situation becomes more complex

According to projections after the close of the polls in France, Emmanuel Macron has lost his absolute majority in the French parliament in an election marked by a significant abstention announced by the estimates. The setback of the political party of the current French president has been significant, although he has won in this second round against Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the left-wing alliance, and the representative of the hardest right, Marine Le Pen.

Emmanuel Macron needed 289 seats to maintain the absolute majority he won in the last elections of this type, and he fell far short of this figure in the face of the strong rise of Mélenchon, on the one hand, and Le Pen, on the other. 

This new distribution of power in the French Assembly could open up a period of political instability, all the more so given that Macron is likely to find it very difficult to carry out the reforms he has pending after losing the absolute majority he enjoyed before. Special mention should be made of the reform of retirement pensions, totally rejected by the left and the trade unions. This is a very different situation to the one the French leader was in before, thanks to a majority that allowed him to carry out his political plans with peace of mind. 

The Emsemble political coalition led by Emmanuel Macron has won 245 seats in the second round of the legislative elections, according to data from the French Interior Ministry, far from the 289 it needed to have an absolute majority. The left-wing alliance led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Nupes, won 131 and became the second political force, while Marine Le Pen's National Rally, the party of Marine Le Pen, achieved a historic milestone, going from eight deputies to 86. This not only allows it to create a parliamentary group, something that has not happened since 1988, but also makes it the third political force.

Emmanuel Macron will now require a lot of negotiation, a lot of concessions and many pacts with formations that are more on the extreme left and right, a scenario that could lead to a French Assembly that is difficult to govern. In this sense, the Minister of Economy himself, Bruno Le Maire, has pointed out that "a lot of imagination will be needed" to be able to materialise the policies that the party led by Macron wants, as reported by the newspaper El Mundo. "The Assembly has never experienced such a distribution. This situation is unprecedented and is a risky one", explained the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne.

This situation of an insufficient majority for a president has not occurred since 1988 during the re-election of François Mitterrand. Now Macron has lost ground to Mélenchon and Le Pen. 

"The people have decided to give a place in the Assembly to a powerful National Rally. It is the best result in the party's history. We have achieved what we wanted: to leave Macron in a minority, without control over power," declared an exultant Marine Le Pen.

For his part, Jean-Luc Mélenchon has also reaped great results as his left-wing alliance has obtained second place in the elections despite the fact that the French left was divided; now, from the government and the parliament, much more attention will be paid to him thanks to the large presence obtained in the National Assembly. "France has expressed itself. The defeat of Macron's party is total", said Mélenchon, in words reported by the newspaper El Mundo. The leader of the left-wing coalition has pointed out that "all possibilities" are on the table and that he intends to lead the government, despite the fact that the projections leave him far from having a parliamentary majority without many options for alliances that would allow him to have that majority to which he even aspired. 

Along with the rise of the most extreme groups on the left and right, it is also worth noting the large abstention rate in this second round of the legislative elections in France. This was probably due to social discontent with the current situation and protest at the current policies. According to estimates, more than half of those entitled to vote have decided not to do so in this election.