Macron lost his majority in parliament. France awaits a “coalition”

French President Emmanuel Macron's Together coalition has lost its absolute majority in parliament. In second place is Mélenchon's left-wing New People's Ecological and Social Union (Nupes), and in third place is Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party.

Although Macron’s coalition took first place as a result of the elections and will receive 245 seats, according to French law, 289 mandates are needed for an absolute majority and a mandate to form a government.

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“Christophe Castanier is the leader of Macron’s LREM movement and the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs lost to the left in his district. Brigitte Bourguignon, Macron's health minister, is losing and must resign. The former head of the National Assembly, Richard Ferrand, is losing to the left,” Russian correspondent in France Anastasia Popova comments on the results of voting in the districts.

The current Prime Minister of France, Elisabeth Borne, noted that the loss of the majority in the National Assembly by the presidential bloc “Together!” poses a great threat to the country.

“Never during the Fifth Republic was such a configuration observed in the National Assembly. This situation poses a threat to our country given the challenges we face both nationally and internationally. But we must respect this vote and draw conclusions from it,” Bourne said.

_{Politico calls the results of the parliamentary elections “catastrophic” for Emmanuel Macron. Now the presidential party will have to enter into a coalition with someone. This is the first time this has happened in France since socialist François Mitterrand was re-elected to a second term in the mid-1980s. Then Mitterrand was forced to get along with the right-wing government.}

“Parliament will be paralyzed, and it will be difficult for Macron to pass laws and especially controversial projects to reform the pension system,” the publication writes.

Among Macron's likely coalition allies are the Gaullist Republicans. With their votes, his bloc will have 306 votes against the required 289. But the newspaper believes that decision-making will still be seriously complicated due to many differences with potential coalition partners.

_{Moreover, in parliament, with the rise of the left and right, the voices of those who criticize NATO and certain EU norms are growing stronger. These are the slogans not only of Le Pen’s party, but also of Mélenchon, who “wants to leave the NATO unified command and not comply with the provisions of EU treaties with which he does not agree,” writes Politico.}

Russian political observer Boris Rozhin also agrees with these conclusions.

“Macron suffered a serious setback in the French elections. Although his party won, it was unable to obtain an absolute majority, which is why France is facing a coalition government, which will seriously constrain Macron’s actions depending on who the coalition is with,” he writes.

But political expert Marat Bashirov does not consider the current situation fatal for Macron.

“Macron’s party ultimately received 245 mandates out of 577. For an absolute majority it was necessary to have 289. That is, to elect your prime minister you need to create a coalition with someone. Of course they will find you: they will buy you, they will promise you, they will intimidate you. But it's not that. First, a dangerous trend: a real threat of a strong left turn in France (131st place for the left). Secondly, in the strong polarization of society: the right-wing Marie Le Pen became a member of the French Parliament for the first time, and her party took 89 mandates,” Bashirov said.

At the same time, according to the expert, “in such a “loud” parliament, it will be difficult for Macron to carry out his decisions and will have to shift his focus from foreign policy to domestic policy.”