France faces hung parliament after election result

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday asked Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to remain temporarily in office after the government’s political camp lost its majority in high-stakes legislative elections. The leftist New Popular Front (NFP) coalition won the most parliamentary seats, but failed to win an absolute majority in the National Assembly.France’s left-wing leader Jean-Luc Melenchon says the left is “ready to govern” after emerging as the largest political bloc in parliament, but the country faces a political deadlock as no party won a clear majority.
The New Popular Front (NFP) coalition led by Melenchon and its allies won a plurality in France’s National Assembly in the second round of the parliamentary elections on Sunday, taking 187 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, interior ministry figures show.The result delivered a blow to President Emmanuel Macron, whose centrist Ensemble alliance managed to win 159 seats. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) and its allies surprisingly finished third with 142 seats despite a strong first-round showing.

With none of the top three alliances winning an outright majority of 289 seats needed to form a government, the eurozone’s second largest economy faces a hung parliament, uncharted territory in its modern age. Meanwhile, the French leftist NFP alliance will choose a candidate for PM from within their victorious electoral coalition within the week, Socialist Party leader OlivierFaure said on Monday.