Leftist alliance ‘ready to govern’ after trouncing Macron’s ruling party
by 
As it happened
France’s snap legislative elections on Sunday showed the leftist New Popular Front leading both Macron’s ruling party and the right-wing National Rally but falling short of an absolute majority, according to Ipsos Talan projections. One of the coalition’s leaders, Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the far-left France Unbowed party, urged Macron to invite them to form a government, saying the alliance “is ready to govern”. Read our liveblog to see how all the day’s events unfolded.
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- Macron dissolved parliament and called for snap legislative elections after the far right came out ahead of his centrist alliance in June elections for the European Parliament.
- Leftist parties – including the hard-left France Unbowed, the Communists, the centre-left Socialists and the Greens – hastily agreed to form an alliance called the New Popular Front in the days after Macron’s shock decision.
- Marine Le Pen‘s far-right National Rally party led the first round of voting with 33% followed by the New Popular Front with almost 28% and President Macron’s ruling coalition trailing at 20%.
- Between the first and second rounds, more than 200 candidates from various parties who qualified for the run-off stepped aside to allow a better-placed rival to go head-to-head with the National Rally candidate in their constituencies, increasing the chances of defeating them.
- Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said he would resign on Monday but will carry out his duties as long as required. It is France’s president who nominates the PM but the candidate must be approved by parliament and thus often hails from whatever party or coalition holds the most seats.
Read moreHow does France’s lower house National Assembly work?
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, Reuters)
