Macron learns to look to the right

President Emmanuel Macron avoided the nightmare – a French parliament with a left-wing majority. But after the decline in Sunday’s election, his party is forced to seek support from the left or right.

– I think that the alliance that he is most likely to get a little more long-term support from is the moderate right, ie the Republicans. Or at least parts of it, says Marie Demker, professor of political science at the University of Gothenburg, to TT.

Macron’s coalition in the political midterm lost its majority in parliament according to the preliminary election results. This means that his second term as president will probably be a more shaky journey.

– It becomes a balance between left and right. Especially now in the crisis due to the war in Ukraine and inflation, there is a great deal of dissatisfaction with the economic gaps in France. Both the far right and the left alliance are upset and his big concern is how to handle the very urgent issue, says Marie Demker.

Extreme breakthrough

The loosely united left-wing alliance has succeeded well, but does not reach its own majority.

– Despite the fact that the Socialist Party has imploded, the left has still made a very strong mobilization, says Marie Demker.

– But Macron is still at stake in some sense.

Remarkable is also the major breakthrough for the far-right National Assembly, Marie le Pen’s party, which looks set to increase its seats in parliament tenfold.

– Despite the fact that 20–25–30 per cent of voters have voted for Marie le Pen in presidential, parliamentary and so on elections, the party has never really gained a foothold due to the French electoral system with majority elections in two rounds. But now they have managed to get a larger group than the moderate right has, says Marie Demker.

Increased polarization

She explains the development with an increasingly strong political polarization in the electorate, which was visible already in the presidential election in April.

– The middle weakens and the flanks increase.

– Macron has two fronts. The left is angry with him because he wants to raise the retirement age. The extreme right is angry because he is liberal and pro-free. And now both sides have managed to mobilize greater support than before.