FRANCE: Emmanuel Macron lost his absolute majority in France's lower-house National Assembly

Paris: Emmanuel Macron’s centrist grouping has lost its absolute majority in parliament, amid gains by a new left alliance and a historic surge by the far right in legislative elections.

Emmanuel Macron lost his absolute majority in France's lower-house National Assembly as French legislative elections concluded on Sunday, the country's fourth Election Day in two months after last week's first round and April's presidential election. 

Emmanuel Macron suffered a setback two months after his re-election as president. In the 577 - member French Assembly, 289 seats are needed for a majority. But reports suggest that Macron's moderate party could be limited to 200 to 260 seats. If Macron fails to form alliances with other parties, he will lose power.

After five years of undisputed control of parliament, the recently re-elected Macron, known for his top-down approach to power, now enters his second term facing uncertainty over how he will deliver domestic policies such as raising the retirement age and overhauling state benefits. His centrists will need to strike compromises and expand alliances in parliament to be able to push forward his proposals to cut taxes and shake up the welfare system.

Macron’s Ensemble (Together) remains the biggest grouping in parliament, but took significant losses in what the media called a “crushing defeat” and an “earthquake”. Political analysts deemed the results a “severe failure” for Macron’s centrist alliance.

Final results showed Macron’s centrists taking 245 seats, well short of the 289 required for an absolute majority.

A historic alliance of parties on the left, led by the hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Unbowed party with the Socialists and the Greens, became the largest opposition group, and is expected to have 133 seats.

Mélenchon’s France Unbowed party, with about 72 seats, now leads a broader left coalition, known as the Nupes, or the New Popular Ecological and Social Union. Within the left alliance, the Green party increased its showing to about 23 seats and the Socialists took about 26.

The Nupes alliance and the French Insomnia (France Unbound) party won between 165 and 175 seats in the new assembly. These parties have won three times as many seats as in the last assembly. Mélenchon said the defeat of Macron's party was complete. The election proves Macron's arrogance and moral failure.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen's Rassemble National Party won between 80 and 85 seats. The party won the most seats in history. They also had a decisive contest in the presidential election.

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