09 July,2024 09:20 AM IST | Paris | Agencies
Empty seats at France’s National Assembly in Paris on Monday. Pic/AFP
French voters divided their legislature among left, centre and far right, with no single political faction getting even close to the majority needed to form a government. The risk of paralysis loomed Monday for the European Union's second-largest economy. Each party would need 289 seats absolute majority in a 577 seat parliament.
President Emmanuel Macron gambled that his decision to call snap elections would give France a "moment of clarification", but the outcome showed the opposite, less than three weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics thrusts the country on the international stage.
According to the second-round results tallied early Monday, a leftist coalition surged to take the most seats in parliament. Macron's centrists have the second-largest faction and the unpopular president will have to form alliances to run the government. Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally, which led in the first round of voting, came in third.
ALSO READ
Trump appeals to voters in Wisconsin GOP stronghold ahead of debate with Harris
Father of Georgia school shooting suspect arrested
Can Kamala Harris prosecute the political case against Donald Trump?
US presidential poll: 'Indian Americans for Harris' grassroots campaign launched
Germany deports 28 Afghan migrants to their homeland
Coalition govt?
Unlike other countries in Europe, France doesn't have a tradition of lawmakers from rival political camps coming together to form a majority. France is also more centralised than many other European countries, with many more decisions made in Paris.
182/577
Seats Left-wing's New Popular Front polled
163/577
Seats Macron's centrist Ensemble alliance polled
143/577
Seats Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally polled
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever