The results and the last minutes of the Left’s victory and much more
The streets of Paris erupted in joy on Sunday night as projected results showed the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) would defeat the far-right National Rally party (RN) in France’s snap parliamentary elections.
A large crowd later gathered at the capital’s Place de la République to celebrate the left-wing coalition’s victory in parliament, chanting a popular left-wing slogan: “Young people destroy the National Front”.
A voter leaves a polling station in Lyon, France, on Sunday, July 7. Credit: Laurent Cipriani/AP.
The NFP is a multi-party grouping ranging from the far-left France Insoumise party to moderate socialists and ecologists.
According to the French Interior Ministry, the coalition won 182 seats in the National Assembly, making it the largest grouping, but far short of the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority.
Election workers begin counting ballots in Schiltgheim, France. Credit: Jean-François Badias/AP.
Addressing a crowd of cheering supporters near Stalingrad Square, France Insoumise leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said the result came as a “huge relief to the majority of our country”.
“Our people clearly rejected the worst possible scenario,” said Mélenchon. “There was a spectacular wave of civilian mobilization!”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the France Insoumise party and a member of the New Popular Front, greets his supporters in Paris after partial results were published. Credit: Yara Nardi/Reuters.
This Sunday night, police cleared the Place de la République and fired tear gas at the crowd, composed mainly of young people.
But protesters remained optimistic and pictures showed people cheering and celebrating across the city.
People react to forecast results in Paris. Credit: Christophe Ena/AP.
For followers of the far-right RN party the atmosphere was depressing.
In Paris’s Bois de Vincennes park, the lively atmosphere of an RN campaign event collapsed an hour before polls closed when it became clear the far-right bloc would come third in the vote.
People gather at Place de la République in Paris to celebrate the first results. Credit: Geoffroy van der Hasselt/AFP/Getty Images.
After the screening was announced, RN leader Jordan Bardella, 28, said France had been thrown into “uncertainty and instability”.
Despite leading in the first round of voting, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party and its allies won 143 seats.
With no party close to a majority, parliament is likely to be paralysed and split into three factions.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party, speaks to reporters in Paris after partial results showed her party would fail to win a majority. Credit: Louis Delmotte/AP.
The RN’s strong showing in the first round raised fears that France was about to elect its first far-right government since the World War II collaborationist Vichy regime.
But Sunday’s results came as a major surprise and reflected the overwhelming desire of French voters to prevent the far right from coming to power, even at the cost of a hung parliament.
Supporters of the French far-right National Rally party react after partial results were published in Paris. Credit: Sarah Messonnier/Reuters.
President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble coalition, which fell to a disappointing third place in the first round of voting last Sunday, made a strong recovery to win 163 seats.
Macron’s protégé Gabriel Attal announced on Monday morning local time that he would resign as prime minister. Attal criticized Macron’s decision to call an early vote, saying he “did not choose” to dissolve the French parliament.
Crowds gather during an election night rally at Place de la République in Paris. Credit: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images.
After parliamentary elections, France’s president will appoint a prime minister from the party that wins the most seats. Usually, this means the candidate from the president’s own party. However, Sunday’s results mean Macron faces the prospect of appointing the leader of a left-wing coalition in a rare arrangement known as “cohabitation.”
Addressing supporters near Stalingrad Square, Mélenchon said Macron had a “duty to call on the New Popular Front to govern.”