France Election Results 2024: No clear winner, Macron asks PM to stay
French President Emmanuel Macron Monday asked incumbent Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to stay in office after the 2024 legislative elections in France ended without a clear winner
[New Popular Front leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, addressing an election rally. In the background is the Palestinian National Flag.]
Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron Monday asked incumbent Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to stay in office after the 2024 legislative elections in France ended without a clear winner.
The French Parliament has a total of 577 seats, and to win the election the minimum number of seats required is 289.
However, the results of the 2024 Parliamentary elections announced on Monday July 08, 2024 saw none of the three alliances even reaching close to the half way mark.
The Three alliances that emerged on top after the vote count are:
- New Popular Front (NFP): NFP is a broad alliance of leftist and environmental parties led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, won the largest number of seats - 188.
- Ensemble: Ensemble is a coalition of centrist parties led by French President Emmanuel Macron. It came second with 161 seats.
- National Rally (RN) and its allies: The alliance led by far-right leader Marine Le Pen, won 142 seats.
The remaining – 86 seats, have been won by Independents and other smaller parties.
Like UK general elections, Palestinian issue and the Israeli war crimes in Gaza too were among the key issues in the French elections.
Following the hung assembly and split verdict, Gabriel Attal resigned as Prime Minister. But, Macron rejected his resignation.
Government Formation
Meanwhile, newly elected and returning lawmakers on Monday gathered at the National Assembly to begin negotiations over a new government, a coalition, in earnest.
Talks over who should form a new government and who should lead the foreign, interior and finance ministries among others, are expected to be extremely difficult and lengthy. This is so because the political parties negotiating a deal have diametrically opposing policies and contempt for one another, according to Associated Press.
“We are in a situation that is totally unprecedented,” said Jean-Didier Berger, a newly elected lawmaker from the conservative Republicans party.
Aurélien Rousseau, a newly elected lawmaker from the New Popular Front and former minister in Macron’s government acknowledged disagreements within the leftist alliance over the government formation, but said the alliance could eventually reach an agreement.
“We need to build compromises, but we need to take time to discuss, to know what we agree on or disagree within the left,” Rousseau said.
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