PARIS- In the first round of the general elections held in France, the leftist unity movement NUPES, led by the popular leftist leader Jean Luc Melenchon, succeeded beyond expectations and became the party that received the most votes in the elections. President Emmanuel Macron’s party, LREM, ranked second, just behind NUPES. The race will continue in the second round next week.
According to the first estimated results of the first round of the General Elections, which was held to determine the 577 deputies to take office in the National Assembly, turnout to the polls decreased to 47 percent, recording the lowest rate seen in the history of the republic. 53 percent of approximately 49 million voters did not go to the polls.
The New Ecological and Social People’s Union (NUPES), headed by popular left-wing leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, was the first to win with 26.1 percent of the vote, according to Le Figaro, an Elabe research firm and one of the country’s two largest newspapers, which announced the results for the BFM TV news channel. placed in the queue.
President Macron’s party came second with 25.6 percent of the vote, along with the Horizon, Agir and MODEM movements, which support the government from outside.
Le Monde newspaper, on the other hand, wrote that LREM and NUPES competed elbow to elbow with 25.2 percent of the vote.
The far-right party National Integration (RN), led by Marine Le Pen, which increased its votes a little more in each election, took the second place with 19.2 percent.
The right-wing Republicans, who lost heavy blood due to the divisions within the party and the presidential failure, and lost the party’s heavyweights to power, received 11.3 percent of the vote.
Melenchon’s great success
Melenchon, the architect of the “unity on the left” project, which managed to unite the Greens, the Socialist Party, the French Communist Party and the France Unsubmissive (LFI) movement, which he founded, managed to create a great surprise at the ballot box. Taking the floor right after the elections, Melenchon said, “For the first time in the history of the Republic, a newly elected president failed to gain a majority. I call on our people, next Sunday, come to the polls for the second round. Send this government that came to bring the retirement age to 65. Flock to the ballot box. ” said.
Unable to bring the disintegrated left together, Melenchon, who went to the presidential elections in his own name and received 20 percent of the votes in these elections, called for unity when all left parties suffered a great defeat. Melenchon, who managed to unite the left parties under the name of NUPES, also called on the electorate with the slogan “Make me Prime Minister” and gathered votes for the union, saying that the left union is the only alternative to President Macron’s policies. Melenchon, who had the most rallies in the election squares, eventually managed to win the left with the highest number of votes.
Will the government be able to get 289 absolute majority?
According to the first estimated results, the ruling party LREM can get 270-310 deputies, the left union 170-220 deputies, the centre-right 33-53 deputies, and the far-right RN 15-30 deputies.
Candidates with more than 50 percent of the votes will be elected in the first round, in the electoral districts where 25 percent of the voters come to the polls. The parliamentary candidates who cannot pass the 50 percent threshold will enter the race with 2 or 3 again in the second round to be held on 19 June.
Even though the far-right leader Marien Le Pen won 55 percent of the votes in the city of Hennin-Beaumont, where he is a candidate, he will race again in the second round because there is not enough turnout.
The alliance and bargaining between the two rounds will determine whether President Macron can get enough seats to win an absolute majority in the House.