Macron May Face No Confidence Vote After Losing Parliamentary Majority

French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance, Ensemble (Together), came ahead of the New Popular Environmentalist and Social Union (Nupes) of Jean-Luc Melenchon in the second round of parliamentary elections in France on Sunday.

On Sunday, in the second round of parliamentary elections in France, French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance secured 245 seats, falling short of the 289 needed to keep its majority in the French National Assembly. The current situation may prevent Macron from implementing reforms, given the skeptical attitude of many deputies outside his own coalition.

On Monday, France's left-wing Nupes alliance, the second-biggest grouping in the lower house of parliament, said that it plans to put forward a no-confidence vote against Macron's government on 5 July, according to Le Figaro. However, the Nupes alliance does not have enough votes to get the no-confidence vote adopted, and has few allies in a very disjointed parliament. This means that the alliance may have difficulties in putting forward a no-confidence vote, as it will need to form an alliance with other parties.

In turn, left-wing parties refused Nupes' request to create an alliance in the Assembly, according to the BFMTV.

French voters turned from Macron’s alliance to left and right wing parties - after the Nupes coalition secured second place as the main opposition, the right-wing National Rally became the third-largest group within the National Assembly, holding around 15% of its seats.

“We have achieved our three objectives: that of making Emmanuel Macron a minority president, without control of power and that of pursuing the political recomposition essential to democratic renewal,” Le Pen said.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said in a Sunday address broadcast on social media that the situation after the National Assembly elections is a "threat" to the country, taking into account the domestic and foreign policy challenges that France faces. Borne said that already starting from Monday, work will begin on creating an "active majority" between the president's party and its allies to carry out reforms.

In the second round of elections to the 577-seat French lower house, National Rally won the third-largest number of seats, 89, preceded by the NUPES coalition of left forces led by Jean-Luc Melenchon with 131 seats and President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance Ensemble (Together) with 245 seats.

The first round of elections to the National Assembly was held in France on 12 June, with a turnout of less than 40%. Ensemble got 25.71% of the votes, while Melenchon's Nupes received 25.61% in the first round.