France’s Macron assumes power Sunday, turns eye to June elections

Emmanuel Macron will take office as France’s next president May 14, President François Hollande announced Monday, a day after Macron, an independent centrist, defeated Marine Le Pen in a battle for the country’s leadership.

Macron appeared beside Hollande at a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe to observe the 72nd anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.

He did not make a statement, but his attention will already have turned to the choice of a prime minister and to the legislative elections of June 11 and 18, when all 577 seats in the National Assembly — the lower, more powerful house of the French Parliament — will be up for grabs.

Macron’s year-old political movement plans to field candidates — a mix of newcomers and more experienced figures — for all of the seats. In the meantime, he is expected to name a prime minister and a Cabinet.

But if Macron’s party does not win enough seats, the Assembly could essentially force him to choose another prime minister.

The two mainstream parties — the Socialists and the Republicans — hope to reassert themselves in the legislative elections, as does the far-right National Front, led by Le Pen. The movement of the far-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon also hopes to do well.

In short, the parliamentary elections could easily be a five-party affair, a reflection of the electorate’s fragmentation.

Richard Ferrand, secretary-general of Macron’s movement — En Marche!, or Onward! — said Monday that the names of the party’s candidates would be announced Thursday. Half will come from civil society, and half will be women. He added that members of other parties would be allowed to run under the centrist banner, on the condition that they vote with Macron’s government and sit in the majority group in Parliament.

And En Marche! will soon sound a bit more like a traditional party. Ferrand said the name would be changed in mid-July to La République en Marche, or Republic on the Move. Macron resigned as head of the movement after his election victory, and a temporary president has been appointed, Ferrand said.