Macron massacred in French general election – loses majority and some ministers

This report has been co-published with our affiliated organisation, Brexit Facts4EU.Org.  We are most grateful for their original research into the raw data which backs what follows.

Le Pen jubilant as she increases seats 11-FOLD
and denies Macron majority

 

France is now in a governmental mess on a scale not seen in decades

Yesterday (19 June 2022) French voters delivered a resounding “non” to President Macron’s ‘Ensemble’ party in the final round of voting for the Assemblée Nationale – France’s parliament.

Macron’s party and its partners lost more than 100 seats. They still secured 38.6% of the votes giving them 244 seats but thereby lost their majority to govern. 289 seats are needed to govern and Macron’s ‘Ensemble Citoyens’ fell short by 43 seats.

Summary

French parliamentary election results, 19 June 2022

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  • Ensemble ! (Macron and friends) : 245
  • Nouvelle union populaire écologique et sociale (Far left Mélenchon and friends) : 131
  • Rassemblement National (Le Pen) : 89
  • Les Républicains (conservatives) : 61
  • Other left : 22
  • Régionaliste : 10
  • Other right : 10
  • Various centre : 4
  • Union des Démocrates et des Indépendants : 3
  • Other : 1
  • Right sovereignty : 1

[Source : Ministère de l’Intérieur, 22 June 2022 with full results.]

French parties, French coalitions, and the People’s Front of Judea

When we have to write about French elections, we struggle to find ways to explain the results in a meaningful way for British readers. Party names change on a regular basis and loose coalitions are formed to fight elections. This makes comparisons with previous elections very difficult.

For a good explanation of all of this, we recommend watching the following clip.

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On a more serious note, how did Le Pen do?

At the same time as Macron’s coalition plummeted, Marine Le Pen’s ‘National Rally’ party made stunning gains, taking it from eight seats to 89 in the new parliament – an 11-fold increase.

Its vote share was 17.3% and it is now the second-largest single parliamentary party after Macron’s ‘La République En Marche!’. (And yes, Macron’s party really does have an exclamation mark as part of its name.)

“The people have spoken and sent a strong group from the National Rally to the National Assembly.”

– Marine Le Pen, 20 June 2022

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And how did the far left and the conservatives do?

Meanwhile the far left coalition ‘NUPES’ of Jean-Luc Mélenchon which includes the Communists and the Greens did relatively poorly when broken down into its constituent parties. As a coalition it secured the second-highest number of seats (127) and 31.6% of the vote but many commentators believe it will slowly disintegrate now that the election is over.

Mélenchon promised to reduce the retirement age from 62 to 60, but without explaining how he would fund this. Macron intends to increase it from 62 to 65. This undoubtedly played a role in the election.

The conservatives (‘Les Républicains’) had a dismal day again, with a vote share of only 7.0%. Bizarrely, because of the concentration of these votes, this gave them 61 seats.

This could, however, make them a ‘kingmaker’ if President Macron decides he needs a coalition government.

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Macron’s ministers lost their seats

President Macron will have to make some key ministerial appointments – in addition to his woes in trying to assemble a working government – as a result of some of his ministers failing to keep their seats. These include Health Minister Brigitte Bourguignon, Maritime Minister Justine Benin and Environment Minister Amélie de Montchalin. Macron also lost Richard Ferrand, the head of the National Assembly and a close ally.

However, Europe Minister and anti-Brit Clément Beaune and Public Service Minister Stanislas Guerini — both ‘Macron attack puppies’ — managed to keep their seats by the skin of their teeth.