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French elections: Macron and leftist alliance finish neck-and-neck in first round

French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance was on track to win the largest number of seats in parliament after the first round of voting on Sunday, projections from polling firms showed, though it remains unclear if it will obtain a majority.

Published: 12 June 2022 20:18 CEST
Updated: 13 June 2022 06:43 CEST
French elections: Macron and leftist alliance finish neck-and-neck in first round
A photograph taken on June 12, 2022 shows a TV screen displaying the first results of the first round of France's parliamentary elections during the election evening at the campaign headquarters of center-right coalition "Ensemble!" (Together!) in Paris. - Elections for the 577 seats in the lower house National Assembly are a two-round process, with the shape of the new parliament becoming clear only after the second round on June 19. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)

Final results showed both Macron’s centrist group on 25.75 percent of the vote and the leftwing alliance Nupes (Nouvelle union populaire, écologique and sociale) on 25.66 percent.

Projections from pollsters predict that Macron’s group will gain the highest number of seats in the parliament, but could lose his majority – although the seat numbers will not be known until after the second round on June 19th.

His Ensemble (Together) alliance was projected by three firms to win between 260 and 310 seats in the second round of voting on June 19th, with Nupes finishing second, for a projected 150 to 220 seats.

Macron would need to secure at least 289 seats to have a majority for pushing through legislation during his second five-year term.

The Sunday poll was the first round of voting, with constituencies where no candidate has received an absolute majority holding a second round of voting next Sunday, where the electorate picks between the highest scoring candidates.

Macron needs a majority in the French parliament in order to continue his programme of reforms over the next five years, but if his Ensemble group does not gain an absolute majority, he and his Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne can still attempt to put together an alliance of other parties. 

OPINION France has too many elections and it’s killing politics

Nupes is a new alliance between the hard-left La France Insoumise, the centre-left Parti Socialiste, the green and the Communists, headed by third-placed presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Ensemble, meanwhile, comprises Macron’s La République en Marche party plus centrists MoDem and Horizon – the new party created by former PM Edouard Philippe.

The turnout level was headed towards a record low, with just 48 percent of registered voters reported to have turned out.

The far-right Rassemblement National headed by Marine Le Pen, who lost to Macron in the presidential vote in April, finished in third place with 18.68 percent, which could result in 10 to 45 seats, according to the projections.

The former education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer was eliminated in the first round in his constituency of Loiret (Orléans) but the Disabilities minister Damien Abad, who has been at the centre of a storm since he was accused of rape by two women, qualified in first position in Ain, north east France.

In total 15 of the the 28 government ministers are standing in these elections – including the Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne – and Macron has said that anyone who fails to be elected is expected to step down from their ministerial role.

All members of the government have progressed to the second round, although some of them – including Europe minister Clément Beaune and environment minister Amelie de Montchalin – are now in a vulnerable position after finishing in second place.

Eric Zemmour, the extreme right TV pundit turned presidential candidate, was eliminated in the first round in his constituency in Var, southern France. 

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POLITICS

France’s Uyghurs say Xi visit a ‘slap’ from Macron

Uyghurs in France on Friday said President Emmanuel Macron welcoming his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next week was tantamount to "slapping" them.

Published: 4 May 2024 15:23 CEST
France's Uyghurs say Xi visit a 'slap' from Macron

Xi is due to make a state visit to France on Monday and Tuesday.

Dilnur Reyhan, the founder of the European Uyghur Institute and a French national, said she and others were “angry” the Chinese leader was visiting.

“For the Uyghur people — and in particular for French Uyghurs — it’s a slap from our president, Emmanuel Macron,” she said, describing the Chinese leader as “the executioner of the Uyghur people”.

Beijing stands accused of incarcerating more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention facilities across the Xinjiang region.

Campaigners and Uyghurs overseas have said an array of abuses take place inside the facilities, including torture, forced labour, forced sterilisation and political indoctrination.

A UN report last year detailed “credible” evidence of torture, forced medical treatment and sexual or gender-based violence — as well as forced labour — in the region.

But it stopped short of labelling Beijing’s actions a “genocide”, as the United States and some other Western lawmakers have done.

Beijing consistently denies abuses and claims the allegations are part of a deliberate smear campaign to contain its development.

It says it is running vocational training centres in Xinjiang which have helped to combat extremism and enhance development.

Standing beside Reyhan at a press conference in Paris, Gulbahar Haitiwaji, who presented herself as having spent three years in a detention camp, said she was “disappointed”.

“I am asking the president to bring up the issue of the camps with China and to firmly demand they be shut down,” she said.

Human Rights Watch on Friday urged Macron during the visit to “lay out consequences for the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity and deepening repression”.

“Respect for human rights has severely deteriorated under Xi Jinping’s rule,” it said.

“His government has committed crimes against humanity… against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, adopted draconian legislation that has erased Hong Kong’s freedoms, and intensified repression of government critics across the country.”

“President Macron should make it clear to Xi Jinping that Beijing’s crimes against humanity come with consequences for China’s relations with France,” said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch

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