Less than two months after his re-election, Emmanuel Macron is expected to lose control of the French National Assembly (the lower house of parliament) after rival parties fared better than expected. BBC.
Emmanuel Macron
Photo: Ludovic Marin/AFP
A centrist coalition called Macron Ensemble is expected to win the parliamentary elections, but could lose dozens of seats, making it difficult for his government to implement its reforms. The Green Left Alliance led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a Nubian, is expected to take second place and expect 150-180 seats, while Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, the National Coalition, has 80-100 seats.
The Macrons secured more than 300 seats in the previous parliamentary session, defeating Le Pen’s National Coalition with a convincing advantage in the April presidential election. However, to retain a clear majority, it would need 289 seats, but forecasts on Sunday are that they will only have 210-250 seats. This is a worse result than the pollsters expected.
A separate forecast from France Télévisions gave a more realistic result.
The government’s early defeat occurred on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, where the Secretary of State, Justine Benin, lost her tenure and was forced to resign. But several high-ranking ministers were also at risk, including Clement Bonn, the minister for Europe, and Amelie de Montchalin, the green transition minister.
