Far right pushed back, but the pathway to new government uncertain

By Monica Sestito

Crowds gathered in elated relief across urban centres of France as the far-right Rassemblement National(RN) party was defeated in the second round of legislative elections last night.

After obtaining a historic 33 per cent of the vote in the first round of voting on Sunday 30 June, and being widely touted as the party most likely to lead the next government at least, if not to rule with an absolute majority, RN instead dropped to third place.

The left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance outflanked both RN and Macron’s centrist formation, Ensemble, winning 182 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly. The results show Macron’s centrists in second place with 163 seats, and RN with 143 in the new legislature. In response to this outcome, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal promptly announced his resignation.

Politico also reports that the far-left party La France Insoumise (FI), led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has obtained the most seats of any other political force within NFP. FI is expected to obtain at least 85 MPs, compared to at least 55 for the Socialists, 32 for the Greens and 6 for the Communists. The latter is hence excluded from constituting a parliamentary grouping in the National Assembly, which requires at least 15 seats.  

Speaking to a mass of supporters and RN opponents gathered in Place de Stalingrad, north of Paris, Mélenchon thanked young people and residents of working-class districts for “once again saving the republic.”

He emphasised that the outcome represents a repudiation of RN’s attempt to whip up racial division amongst the French people. “The people,” he declared, “is not a question of language, religion or the colour of one’s skin; it is a community made and remade dozens of times in history in the name of its own common interests.”

Notwithstanding the immediate jubilation expressed by many following the surprise second-round results, the election has confirmed a France more politically polarised than united around a set of ‘common interests’ or popular programs. The path to forming a new government is vexed, with no party securing enough seats (289) to form an outright majority.

FI has rejected any governmental coalition with Macron’s block or compromise upon its political program, which could only be discrediting for a party that has built its support by posing a left-wing alternative to the neoliberal, authoritarian politics Macron came to embody, and that has spent most of last nine months facing slander from Macron for denouncing Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

The right-wing of the Socialist Party has alluded to a possible alliance with Macron. Raphael Glucksmann, its touchstone, told the media that a divided National Assembly necessitates “behaving like adults.” For now, however, Socialist Party Secretary Olivier Faure has stridently dismissed any collaboration with Macron, asserting that “France deserves better than an alternative between neoliberalism and fascism.”

Without a viable coalition, it is possible that Macron may help convene a technocratic government until further elections can be called. There is no tradition of these governments in France, so such a result would only further exemplify the historic instability of the current political landscape.

In any case, whether a coalition or technocratic government is established, RN’s weight within the National Assembly cannot be discounted. The far-right party may have the ability to block legislation by grouping with sections of Ensemble and the conservative right force, Les Républicains, all while building from its position of opposition and looking towards the 2027 elections. This is certainly what Marine Le Pen had in mind, when she told the media after the latest polling results, “Our victory is just postponed.”

For anti-fascists who today breathed a sigh of relief at the curbing of RN’s parliamentary influence, complacency does not seem an option. As one young woman told the left-wing newspaper Libération, “I hope this [outcome] will motivate people to continue fighting because we have seen that it has worked in four weeks, and I think that it can work until the next elections.”