In the second round of parliamentary elections, the left-wing New People's Front won 182 out of 577 parliamentary seats, so leftists of various factions now have a total of 29 more deputies than before. A coalition made up of more or less left-leaning parties just for this occasion declared itself the winner, but it will not be able to rule by itself, for that a majority of at least 289 deputies is needed.
It is followed by the centrist coalition "Together" gathered around President Emmanuel Macron with 168 mandates, 82 fewer than in the previous convocation.
Marine Le Pen's national gathering, with 143 mandates, ended only in third place, contrary to predictions.
The conservative Republican Party will have 60 deputies.
The election had turned into a referendum for and against Marine Le Pen's National Rally, the hard-line right-wingers in whom many recognize modern neo-fascists and the specter that ominously looms over Europe. For that matter, the French and other Europeans can breathe a sigh of relief.
The only question is, until when. Because by all accounts a deeply divided France is rushing into a period of political, social and systemic crisis. The representatives of the two blocs, which together managed to stop the radical right on this occasion, could not hide their mutual intolerance even on election night.
There was no waiting for a fight
As soon as the threat of the National Gathering was repelled, representatives of Macron's camp began to make statements on television that for them any coalition that would include the head of the radical left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, was ruled out.
And he replied that the animosity is mutual.
"The president must now invite the New Popular Front to govern," Mélenchon told cheering supporters in Stalingrad Square, insisting that Macron must admit that he and his coalition have lost. Macron must submit to the left, which can only negotiate for the prime minister to be from its ranks, Melanchon said.
And the New People's Front will follow its program exclusively, only that it is diametrically opposed to most of the positions, especially regarding social issues, which are represented by the "big capital exponent" Macron.
After the disastrous results of his party at the beginning of June in the European elections in which the National Assembly won, the President of France called early parliamentary elections to "clarify" things. It was only clarified that the majority of the French do not want either the radical right or him in power, but it remained unclear what they want, in which direction the country should go.
The German "Spiegel" therefore asked the question: who will take over the helm of Germany's most important partner within the European Union? The EU rests on close cooperation between Berlin and Paris, conflicts in that relationship would significantly affect the security of the Union.
The man who wanted to impose himself as the leader of Europe after the retirement of Angela Merkel, whose policy led to this situation, stayed away from the media the night after the election. Emmanuel Macron is significantly weakened.
What is Attal's plan?
His previous prime minister did not wait long. It's already Sunday evening Gabriel Atal declared that he would resign and for the first time sent poisonous arrows in the direction of his political mentor: "I did not want the dissolution of the parliament." Tonight, a new political era begins."
"Spiegel" interprets that by the "new era" Atal means the end of the era of Emmanuel Macron and distanced himself from him in time. The presidential elections will be held in 2027, and Atal is an ambitious young man.
In the meantime, he promised, he will conscientiously perform all the prime minister's duties. The Olympic Games in Paris start in two and a half weeks, and it could be a long time before a new government is formed.
Strengthening the National Front
This time too, Marine Le Pen did not manage to win power. But representatives of the National Front talk with a lot of conviction that their time is surely coming.
They find solace in the fact that the leftists and centrists immediately began "to break each other's heads", and that the French in these elections first of all showed that they wanted changes. Keeping Macron and his party in power does not reflect that mood.
And indeed, although the National Front is now spoken of as a loser, it has significantly strengthened: compared to the previous convocation of the parliament, it now has 89 deputies instead of 143.
Their slogan is: we will shake off for a while, pick ourselves up and continue to meet the presidential elections in 2027. The party is talking about putting together a "winning" program, which would be acceptable to the majority of the French.
As a rule, the radical right is more acceptable to big capital than the radical left with its ideas about social justice, taxation of the rich and redistribution of surplus value. One only has to remember how Greece went under the rule of Syriza, and how Italy is going now under the brothers led by Giorgio Meloni.
Marine Le Pen's mistake, according to her Italian ideological counterpart, was her flirtation with Vladimir Putin, which turned many voters off. But, in three years, a lot can change on the Ukrainian battlefield and on the global front, and Le Pen has shown that she learns from her mistakes.
All trends show that the populist right is more receptive to Europe than the radical left. Anything to the left of British Labor is met with great suspicion. In France, the million-dollar question is who will receive the votes of the disaffected in the next election.
