Pro-Macron alliance ties with left-wing bloc in 1st round of French parliamentary elections

(Image credit: Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images)

French voters cast ballots on Sunday in the first round of their country's parliamentary elections, and the results suggest to some pollsters that the coalition supporting newly re-elected President Emmanuel Macron could be in danger of losing its majority in the National Assembly.

Voter turnout was around 47 percent, the lowest participation rate since the French Fifth Republic was founded in 1958.

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Other top vote-getters were Marine Le Pen's right-wing National Rally (18.68 percent), the center-right Republicans (10.42 percent), and Éric Zemmour's far-right Reconquest (4.24 percent). Zemmour himself failed to finish in the top two in the constituency for which he ran, and will not advance to the second round, which will take place on June 12.

Macron's allies currently hold 346 of the National Assembly's 577 seats. Polling firm Ipsos predicts Ensemble will win the greatest number of seats, between 255 and 295. This range straddles the 289 seats required for an absolute majority. If Macron's alliance falls below that number, his ability to govern will be severely hindered.

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Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Modern Age, The American Conservative, The Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.