A loose alliance of French left-wing parties coming together for early elections is on track to become the largest parliamentary bloc and defeat the far right and President Emmanuel Macron’s coalition, according to exit polls.
No group won an absolute majority in Sunday’s second round, plunging France into political limbo with no clear path to forming a new government, two days before a key NATO summit and three weeks before the Paris Olympics.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said he would tender his resignation to Macon on Monday but was ready to serve “as long as duty requires,” particularly in light of the impending Games.
The New Popular Front (NFP) – formed last month after Macron called early elections – brought together in one camp the previously deeply divided Socialists, Greens, Communists and far-left Unsubmissive France.
The left-wing group was expected to occupy between 172 and 215 seats, with the president’s alliance occupying 150 to 180 and the National Rally (NR) – which expected an absolute majority – in a surprising third place with 115 to 155 seats.
It marks a new high point for the far right, but falls far short of a victory that would have been a rebuke for Macron, who called early elections in what he said was an attempt to halt France’s descent toward political extremes.
Leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left France Unbowed (LFI) and controversial figure in the NFP coalition, demanded that the left be allowed to form a government.
“Its constituent parts, the united left, rose to the historic occasion and, in their own way, thwarted the trap set for the country. In his own way, once again, he saved the Republic.”
Veteran presidential candidate Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) led the race after the June 30 first round, with opinion polls predicting she would lead the largest party in parliament after Sunday’s election.
But projections based on vote samples from four major polling agencies and seen by the AFP news agency on Sunday showed no group on track for an absolute majority, and the left-wing NFP ahead of Macron’s centrist Ensemble and the eurosceptic and Le Pen’s anti-immigration RN. .
Macron, who has not yet spoken publicly about the projections, calls for “prudence and analysis of the results”, said an advisor, asking not to be identified, according to a report by the AFP news agency.
Le Pen, for her part, declared: “The tide is rising. This time it didn’t rise enough, but it continues to rise and, consequently, our victory was only postponed.”
‘Caught off guard’
Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler, reporting from Paris, said people “were all taken by surprise when the [exit polls] the results came.”
“These are just exit surveys. For the people here at RN headquarters, this is a huge blow,” she said. “Le Pen has wanted to be president of France for a long time… She has been beaten once again.”
The election campaign, the shortest in French history, was marked by threats and violence – including racist abuse – against dozens of candidates and canvassers.
Around 30,000 police officers were deployed to maintain order and many voters expressed fears that riots could break out in some cities after the results were announced.
Participation was, however, high, with left and center candidates urging their supporters to defend democratic values and the rule of law, while the far right sniffed an opportunity to overthrow the established order.
At 5pm (1500 GMT), according to Home Office data, around 61.4 percent of voters had turned out – the highest number at this stage of a legislative race since 1981.
Rim-Sarah Alouane, a researcher at Toulouse-Capitole University, told Al Jazeera that France “avoided the worst tonight, that’s for sure”.
“There was a massive vote of people who, I think, simply realized how dangerous it was for the far right to come to power,” she said.
“But we should still be concerned that we were in this situation in the first place.”
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
