Macron’s centrist grouping to lose absolute majority in parliament, say projected results

Emmanuel Macron's centrist grouping has lost its absolute majority in parliament, amid gains by a new left alliance and a historic surge by the far right, according to projected results in Sunday's election.

After five years of undisputed control of parliament, the recently re-elected Macron, known for his top-down approach to power, now enters his second term facing uncertainty over how he will deliver domestic policies, such as raising the retirement age and overhauling state benefits. His centrists will need to strike compromises and expand alliances in parliament to be able to push forward his proposals to cut taxes and shake up the welfare system.

Macron's Ensemble (Together) remains the biggest grouping in parliament, but suffered significant losses in what the media called a "crushing defeat" and an "earthquake". Political analysts deemed the results a "severe failure" for Macron's centrist alliance, which missed the absolute majority by a large margin, in contrast to its landslide win five years ago.

Projections by Ipsos pollsters, based on partial results, showed that Macron's centrists would win about 234 seats - much less than the 289 required for an absolute majority in the National Assembly.

But the most striking result of the night came for Marine Le Pen's far-right, anti-immigration National Rally party, which was forecast to increase its seats from eight in 2017 to about 90 - a historic high for a party that in the past has struggled to make gains in the first-past-the-post parliamentary voting system.

The far-right gains showed that Le Pen's party had expanded from its traditional heartlands in the Pas-de-Calais across a swathe of the north and north-east, and spread from its south-eastern base along the Mediterranean coast.

Significantly, the far right broke new ground in western France, with a rising party star, Edwige Diaz, 34, winning a seat in Gironde outside Bordeaux, in an area where the gilets jaunes anti-government protests had been very strong. The party's high number of seats will allow Le Pen, who was elected in the Pas-de-Calais area, to form a major parliamentary group and receive greater visibility and significant funding for her party, which is facing debts.

Le Pen gave a victorious speech from northern France, saying her party had won its greatest number of members of parliament in history. "We will be a firm opposition," she said. Her interim party leader, Jordan Bardella, called it a "tsunami".

Macron's centrists insisted they had still come top, even if the mood at party headquarters was described as grim.

The economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, called the results a "democratic shock" which he defined by the big push of the far right. He said the results reflected the "big worries" of the French electorate, but Macron's policy plans could still be resumed as "work, security, Europe, climate".

Le Maire said Macron was the only person to have the "democratic legitimacy" to decide that project and to reach out a hand to others in parliament to "move forward". He said he did not believe there would be chaos in parliament and that the results were disappointing, but "not a defeat".

Macron, who was re-elected president in April over Le Pen, had pleaded for a "solid majority" in parliament in order to have a free hand to deliver domestic policy.

Borne described the election result for the centrist grouping as "a risk for our country in view of the challenges we have to face", saying the government would immediately try to find consensus to "guarantee stability".

The election was marked by voter apathy, with less than 50% of the electorate turning out to vote.