Left wing coalition tops France election but fails to win outright majority in bruising night for Macron and Le Pen

8 July 2024, 05:42 | Updated: 8 July 2024, 05:48

A left-wing coalition led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon has won the most seats in the French election but failed to win an outright majority in a bruising night for centrist Macron and far-right Le Pen.

National Rally leader Le Pen had been slated to win a majority ahead of the vote but a late surge for the left and a return to popularity for President Emmanuel Macron saw the forecast results turned on their head.

The left-wing New Popular Front won 182 seats, Macron’s centrist alliance won 163 seats and Le Pen's party won 143 seats in the 577-seat parliament.

France now faces a hung parliament - unknown territory for a country with no history of coalition governments.

President Macron can now appoint whoever he wants as the next prime minister, according to the constitution.

He will be expected to select someone acceptable to the parliament and this is usually the leader of the largest parliamentary party.

However, Mélenchon is a divisive figure even within his own party so it is not clear who his NPF will put forward to govern.

The coalition have said current Prime Minister Gabrial Attal "has to go" and declared they are "ready to govern".

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French President Emmanuel Macron took a huge gamble in dissolving parliament and calling for the elections after his centrists were trounced in European elections on June 9.

But despite the semi-vindication of the strategy, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, of Macron's coalition, has offered the president his resignation.

He said: "Being prime minister is the honor of my life.

"In keeping with republican tradition, I will tender my resignation to the president of the Republic tomorrow morning."

The snap elections in this nuclear-armed nation will influence the war in Ukraine, global diplomacy and Europe's economic stability.

The first round on June 30 saw the largest gains ever for the anti-immigration, nationalist National Rally (RN), led by Marine Le Pen.

A bit over 49 million people are registered to vote in the elections, which determines which party controls the 577-member National Assembly, France's influential lower house of parliament, and who will be prime minister.

Across France, 77 far-right candidates secured seats in the first round, including 39 from her National Rally and 32 from the leftist New Popular Front alliance.

Two candidates from Mr Macron's centrists list also won their seats in the first round.

After RN emerged from the first round of voting as the leading party, centrist and leftist parties agreed to withdraw 221 candidates, including 83 from President Macron's camp and 132 from the NFP, in order to avoid three-way run-offs.