Macron's coalition loses parliamentary majority in French elections

French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist Ensemble! coalition lost its majority in the lower house of parliament in Sunday's second round of national elections. Macron's allies are projected to win 245 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, more than rival blocs but 44 seats short of a majority. The leftist Nupes coalition came in second place, led by hardliner Jean-Luc Melenchon, with around 131 seats. The far-right National Rally party of Marine Le Pen increased its number of seats to 89, from eight in 2017, furthering its push from the fringe to the mainstream.

Losing an absolute majority will not completely block Macron's agenda if he can negotiate alliances with more parties, but it will give lawmakers far more power than they had in the newly reelected Macron's first term. Le Pen's party, for example, now has a sufficiently large bloc to request seats on influential committees, including a parliamentary investigation committee, or force consideration of a censure motion against Macron's government, setting up a possible no-confidence vote.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.