National Rally pushed into third place in French elections as left-wing coalition comes out on top
But the result puts France in uncharted territory as it's never experienced a parliament with no dominant party. What happens next largely depends on the deeply unpopular president, Emmanuel Macron.
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00:00A left-wing coalition has won the most seats in the second round of France's high-stakes
00:07parliamentary elections. According to the final results, the new Popular Front Alliance
00:13formed just three weeks ago won 182 seats. 289 seats are needed for a majority in the
00:20577-seat National Assembly. President Emmanuel Macron's centrist Ensemble coalition came
00:27in second with 168, while the far-right National Rally, widely tipped to win after coming
00:33out on top in the first round, finished with 143 seats. The leader of France Unbowed, the
00:40largest party in the winning coalition, said the result was a clear rejection of Macron
00:45and that the president should call on the new Popular Front to govern.
00:49The president must bow and accept this defeat without trying to avoid it in any way.
01:01The Prime Minister must leave. Indeed, he has never received the confidence of the National
01:11Assembly, he has just led the campaign lost by his camp, and he has received a vote of
01:18massive popular defiance. President of the far-right National Rally, Jordan Bardella,
01:24blamed his party's failure at the polls on what he called the Alliance of Dishonour.
01:30Privé des millions de Français, de la possibilité de voir leurs idées portées au pouvoir ne
01:36sera jamais un destin viable pour la France. Ce soir, en assumant délibérément de paralyser
01:44nos institutions, Emmanuel Macron n'a pas simplement poussé le pays vers l'incertitude
01:49et l'instabilité.
01:51Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said he would tender his resignation to Macron on Monday
01:56morning, saying tonight a new era begins.
02:01This is uncharted territory for modern France, which has never experienced a parliament with
02:05no dominant party. Macron has several options, including seeking a deal with the moderate
02:11left to create a joint government, or naming a government of experts unaffiliated with
02:16political parties to handle the day-to-day work of keeping France running. His officer
02:22said he would wait for the new National Assembly to take shape before taking the necessary
02:27decisions.
02:30Despite the National Rally's surprising third place in the second round of the French legislative
02:35elections, its party leaders are still refusing to qualify it as a defeat. According to Marine
02:41Le Pen, the historic leader of the far-right party, this is only a deferred victory, claiming
02:47this sets up the National Rally for what she believes is a solid chance at victory
02:52in the upcoming 2027 French presidential elections.
02:57Sofia Katsenkova, reporting from Paris for Euronews.