France: Macron’s Alliance Loses Parliamentary Majority in Stunning Setback

No single party has managed to gain an absolute majority in the French parliamentary vote, leading to an unprecedented political situation in the country and dealing a severe blow to French President Emmanuel Macron’s ruling centrist alliance. The newly-formed left-wing alliance and far-right recorded considerable gains in Sunday’s election, in a stunning setback to the party that has held a commanding majority for the last five years in the French parliament. Initial projections by pollsters Ifop, OpinionWay, Elabe, and Ipsos showed Macron’s centrist Ensemble (Together) alliance winning 230-250 seats, the left-wing NUPES alliance securing 141-175, and Les Republicains 60-75. However,…