PARIS- Paris French President Emmanuel Macron’s coalition received the highest number of seats in the last stage of the parliamentary elections this weekend; however, it did not win the majority in parliament, according to projections.
Based on world news partial results, the projections indicate that Macron’s presidential candidates will get between 200 to 250 seats, significantly less than the 289 needed to achieve a majority of the National Assembly, France’s most powerful chamber of the parliament.
The highly unusual scenario in France is likely to make Macron’s manoeuvring in the political arena difficult if the forecasts are realized.
A new coalition consisting, of the Greens and Socialists, is likely to be the primary opposition party with 140-200 seats.
The ultra-right National Rally is projected to witness a significant increase, with over 80 seats, from the previous eight.
To world news, the nationwide polls are currently being conducted to select five77 of those who will be members of the National Assembly, the most influential branch of France’s Parliament.
In the first round of last week’s vote, the coalition headed by the fiery hard-left Jean-Luc Melenchon made a surprisingly solid performance and sent jitters through Macron’s centrist and right-wing allies. They worry they may lose their current majority in the parliamentary chamber.
World news says they are concerned that a high performance by the Melenchon coalition could transform Macron into a tightly-knit second-term minority leader who is spending most of his time in negotiations with politicians instead of leading in an accessible manner.
Macron’s coalition has been battling to retain its majority, which amounts to a share of more than half the seats, to allow Macron to carry out the policies he won in May, which included tax cuts and raising France’s retirement age to 65 from 62.
However, these elections have again been characterized by voter disinterest which has seen more than half of people staying home for the first round, with wide sides between the candidates further turning voters away.
In the runoff for the parliamentary election on Sunday, the turnout was just 38% at 5 pm local time, even less than the initial election.
