John Jefferson
France’s second round of legislative elections Sunday delivered a surprise victory to Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s hard-left “New Popular Front” (NFP), which came in first in the seat count. Marine Le Pen’s conservative Rassemblement National party, which was projected to win a plurality of seats, came in third, despite winning a plurality of the vote and 54 seats.
According to the official results, across both rounds of voting, the NFP won 181 seats despite winning only 25.8 percent of the vote. President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble party won 166 seats with only 24.5 percent of the vote. Le Pen’s RN, along with minor RN-aligned parties, managed to win a large plurality of the popular vote with 37 percent, but won only 143 seats. Nevertheless, these numbers improved on those of the 2022 legislative elections, which saw Le Pen win only 89 seats and 17.3 percent of the vote in the second round.
What critics have dubbed “an alliance of dishonor” was responsible for keeping RN from power. After a strong RN performance in the first round, Macron and his prime minister, Gabriel Attal, decided to work with Mélenchon and the left despite earlier promises not to do so. While this strategy was heavily criticized due to the extremist actions of several NFP candidates, it seems to have paid off.
As the result was unexpected, it is unclear what the political fallout will be. Attal has announced that he will resign as prime minister. While Mélenchon has declared his intention to govern, without a majority in the National Assembly he has little ability to do so.
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