Cheers erupted on the streets of Paris late Sunday as projected results suggested the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) would triumph over the far-right National Rally (RN) party in France’s snap parliamentary election.
A large crowd later gathered at the capital’s Place de la République to celebrate the left-wing alliance winning the most seats in parliament, chanting: “Young people screw the National Front,” a popular left-wing slogan.
The NFP is a coalition of several parties, ranging from the far-left France Unbowed party to the more moderate Socialists and Ecologists. The alliance secured 182 seats in the National Assembly, making it the largest group but falling short of the 289 required for an absolute majority, according to the French Interior Ministry.
Speaking to a crowd of ecstatic supporters near Stalingrad square, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the firebrand leader of France Unbowed, welcomed the results as a “huge relief for the overwhelming majority of people in our country.” He proclaimed, “Our people have clearly rejected the worst-case scenario. A magnificent surge of civic mobilization has taken hold!”
Late Sunday night, police cleared the Place de la République by firing tear gas into the crowds, mostly of young people. Despite this, the mood remained upbeat with people across the city cheering and celebrating.
On the other hand, the atmosphere was somber for supporters of the far-right RN party. At the Bois de Vincennes park in Paris, what had been a buoyant RN campaign event turned gloomy an hour before the polls closed, as it became clear the far-right bloc would come third in the vote. After the projections were announced, Jordan Bardella, the RN’s 28-year-old leader, remarked that France had been thrown into “uncertainty and instability.”
Despite leading after the first round of votes, Marine Le Pen’s RN party and its allies won 143 seats. With no party close to clinching a majority, the parliament is likely to be divided, split between three blocs.
President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble alliance, which had slumped to a dismal third in the first round of voting last Sunday, showed a strong recovery to win 163 seats. Gabriel Attal, Macron’s protege, announced he would resign as prime minister Monday morning, hinting at discontent with Macron’s decision to call the snap vote.
After parliamentary elections, the French president appoints a prime minister from the party that won the most seats. Normally, this means a candidate from the president’s own party. However, Sunday’s results mean Macron faces the prospect of having to appoint a figure from the left-wing coalition, resulting in a rare arrangement known as “cohabitation.” Mélenchon, speaking near Stalingrad square, asserted that Macron “has the duty to call the New Popular Front to govern.”