Parties Must Cooperate, says Macron
France’s president seeks to form a working majority despite Le Pen’s far-right party being main opposition. Scan QR Code to read more
Leaders of France’s opposition parties all agree on the need to avoid political gridlock and must now learn to compromise, Emanuel Macron said on Wednesday, as he faced the biggest crisis of his career and unprecedented political deadlock after losing control of parliament.
In his first comments since his centrist grouping fell more than 40 seats short of an absolute majority in parliamentary elections on Sunday, Mr Macron said that agreements needed to be found across party lines and that he would seek over the next weeks to establish a working majority.
“I cannot ignore the fractures, the deep divisions that run through our country and are reflected in the composition of the new [national] assembly,” Mr Macron said.
Mr Macron had enjoyed full control over parliament during his first term from 2017.
But voters who re-elected him as president in April delivered a hung parliament on Sunday, angry over rising inflation and his perceived indifference.
“We will have to clarify in the course of the next few days how much responsibility and cooperation the different formations in the national assembly are prepared to accept.”
A historic surge by Marine Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration National Rally made it the biggest single opposition party.
A left-wing alliance of parties also made big gains, led by the hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s France Unbowed party, which on about 72 seats is now the third biggest party in parliament. Others in the left alliance include the Socialists and the Greens.