French election 2024 update: Macron urges Attal to reconsider as deadlock faces ‘three big risks’

Business Newspaper Les Echos A stern-looking Jordan Bardella was featured on the front page.La Craque” – which translates as “a slap in the face.”

Here’s more from the speech by National Coalition leader Jordan Bardella, whose distant hope of becoming prime minister was made more real by Sunday’s exit poll predictions.

“Tonight I say solemnly: depriving millions of French people of the possibility of putting their ideas in power can never be a viable destiny for France.

“Tonight, by deliberately trying to paralyze our institutions, President Emmanuel Macron has not only plunged the country into uncertainty and instability, but has also deprived French people of any ability to respond to the daily challenges they will face in the months ahead.”

“In the midst of a purchasing power crisis, with fear and chaos hitting the country, France finds itself without a majority, without a government to act and therefore without a clear path to rebuilding France.”

A hung parliament is uncharted territory for modern France.

Unlike other European countries accustomed to coalition governments, France does not have a tradition of politicians from opposing political camps coming together to form a majority. France is also more centralized than many other European countries, with many decisions made in Paris.

The president hoped that with the fate of France in their hands, voters might move away from the far right and far left and return to more centrist mainstream parties, from which Emmanuel Macron drew much of his support when he won the presidential elections in 2017 and 2022.

But far from supporting him, millions of voters seized on his surprise decision as an opportunity to vent their anger.

France’s left-wing coalition unexpectedly took the lead in yesterday’s general election, but no group secured a majority, leaving parliament in limbo and facing potential political deadlock.

Voters dealt a major blow to Marine Le Pen’s nationalist, eurosceptic National Rally (RN) party, which polls had predicted would win in the second round but ended up in third place, according to pollsters’ projections.

The result was also a blow to centrist President Emmanuel Macron, who called a general election to seek political clarity after his own candidate was heavily defeated by the RN in last month’s European Parliament elections.

The end result is a deeply divided parliament, a weakened French role in the European Union and elsewhere, and more difficulty in pushing forward with domestic policies.

The elections have left parliament divided into three main groups – the left, the centre and the far right – with vastly different policies and no tradition of cooperation.

The left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition, which calls for price caps on essentials such as fuel and food, raising the minimum wage to 1,600 euros ($1,732) a month, higher wages for civil servants and a wealthy tax, has said it wants to take power immediately.

“The will of the people must be strictly respected… the president must hand power to the New Popular Front,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left party.

Under Marine Le Pen, the eurosceptic National Rally (RN) has worked to shake off its historic reputation of racism and anti-Semitism, but many in French society remain wary of the party’s France First stance and soaring popularity.

There were hugs, shouts of joy and tears of relief at a left-wing rally in Paris as the voting forecast was released.

The Place de la Republique in central Paris was packed with crowds and created a party atmosphere, with left-wing supporters banging drums, lighting flares and chanting “We won! We won!”

A shrewd left-wing coalition hastily put together before the vote by the far-left, Greens and Socialists fell just short of winning an absolute majority of 289 seats in the 577-seat parliament.

Official results are trickling in, with most, if not all, constituencies likely to have results this morning.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal will submit his resignation today but said he will remain in the position on an interim basis for as long as necessary.

Polling agencies predict the Left will win 184-198 seats, Emmanuel Macron’s centrist coalition will win 160-169 seats, and the RN and its allies will win 135-143 seats.

The euro fell yesterday after the voting forecast was released.

“The absence of a radical RN majority may provide a brief respite for markets, but this will likely lead to political deadlock until at least autumn 2025,” said Aneeka Gupta, director of macroeconomic research at WisdomTree.

With the Paris Olympics looming, Prime Minister Gabriel Atal said he was ready to stay on in his role “as long as the job demands.”

President Emmanuel Macron has three years left in his term.

“I did not choose to dissolve the National Assembly,” Attal said, more vocal than ever about Macron’s shock decision to call snap elections, where the president’s centrist coalition was once the largest, if not the biggest, party.

Still, the party managed to thwart attempts to bring in lawmakers from other camps to topple it and remain in power for two years.

The new Congress appears to lack such stability.

Macron will fly to Washington this week for a NATO summit but leave without a clear idea of ​​who will be France’s next prime minister and facing the possibility of being forced to share power with a politician who strongly opposes his policies.

The key question is whether the left-wing coalition can remain united and agree on what course to take.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left Indefatigable France party, ruled out a broad coalition government of different parties.

Raphael Glucksmann of the Socialist Party called on the allies to act like “adults”.

“We are moving forward, but Congress is divided,” he said. “We are going to have to talk, we are going to have to debate, we are going to have to have a dialogue.”

The constitution does not require President Emmanuel Macron to ask the Left bloc to form a government, but as it is the largest group in parliament, that would be the normal course of action.

There was no indication from Macron’s aides what his next move might be.

“The question we have to ask ourselves tonight and over the next few days is which coalition will win the 289 seats and come to power,” a person close to him told Reuters.

Part of his coalition, including former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, envisages a broad, cross-party coalition but said it would not include the far-left “Straightforward France.”

Supporters of the Left Party cheered in Paris’s Place de Stalingrad as a giant screen showed the coalition taking the lead. Cheers also erupted in Place de la Republique in eastern Paris, where people spontaneously hugged strangers and applauded relentlessly for several minutes after the image was shown.

Medical secretary Marielle Castries was on the Paris subway when the results were first published.

“Everyone was there with their smartphones, waiting for the results, and everyone was overjoyed,” said the 55-year-old. “I’ve been stressed since the European elections on June 9, and now I feel good, I feel relieved.”