France’s Leftist Party Wins Second Round of Pivotal Parliamentary Elections; Beating Far Right

The leftist coalition Nouveau Front Populaire dominated the second round of the pivotal parliamentary elections with approximately 175 to 205 seats, beating the far right, according to exit polls on July 7.

The turnout rate reached 67.10%, slightly more than the first round of the elections — it’s the highest rate for French elections since 1981.

The Nouveau Front Populaire, a coalition between socialist, green and hard left parties, including La France Insoumise (LFI), won the largest number of seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, followed by the centrist coalition of France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Ensemble which secured an estimated 150 to 175 seats.

The far right, which had won the first round of the elections, was defeated as it came in third with approximately 115 to 150 seats.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the France Insoumise which has repeatedly been accused of fueling antisemitism and importing tensions from the war in Gaza to France throughout the campaign, demanded that France’s prime minister Gabriel Attal resign and urged Macron to “bow down.”

Macron made the shock decision to dissolve the National Assembly (in which his party had 250 seats) on June 9, in the wake of the European elections, which were largely won by the far right, spearheaded by Jordan Bardella, the 28 year-old close ally to Marine Le Pen.

Macron described his call for these snap parliamentary elections as an “act of trust. In the capacity of French people to make the best choice of itself and for future generations. Trust in our democracy.”

While the score of the Nouveau Front Populaire is much higher than predicted, it won’t grant them the absolute majority over the 577-seat parliament and the power to form a government. It will, however, likely prompt an overhaul of the government which might happen in short timeframe, with less than a month to go before the start of the Olympic Games. Macron said during the latest council of ministers that he would not name a government led by Melenchon’s hard left party, La France Insoumise.

The far right was defeated after more than 200 candidates, mostly from centrist and left coalitions, pulled out ahead of the second round to avoid splitting the vote which would benefitted Le Pen’s party.