Parliament faces threat of political paralysis

Leftist coalition wins most seats but falls shy of majority

- JOHN LEICESTER, LORI HINNANT AND SYLVIE CORBET

The election galvanized parties on France's left to put differences aside and join together in a new alliance, the New Popular Front.

PARIS A coalition of the French left won the most seats in highstakes legislative elections, according to final results early Monday, beating back a far-right surge but failing to win a majority. The outcome left France facing the stunning prospect of a hung parliament and threatened political paralysis in a pillar of the European Union and Olympic host country.

That could rattle markets and the French economy, the EU’s second-largest, and have far-ranging implications for the war in Ukraine, global diplomacy and Europe’s economic stability.

In calling the election on June 9, after the far right surged in French voting for the European Parliament, President Emmanuel Macron said sending voters back to the ballot boxes would provide “clarification.”

On almost every level, that gamble appears to have backfired. According to the second-round results tallied early Monday, a leftist coalition surged to take the most seats in parliament, with 182. Macron’s centrists have 168 seats and the unpopular president will have to form alliances to run the government. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, which had led in the first round of voting, got 143 seats.

That means all three main blocs are well short of the 289 seats needed to control the 577-seat National Assembly.