Irish Examiner view: Macron must act quickly now he's lost his centrist majority

With both the left and the right emboldened by the results, the French premier's ability to pull together the threads of a coalition could be in shreds

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, walks next to French Socialist party First Secretary Olivier Faure after their meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday. Picture: Mohammed Badra/Pool photo via AP

The French political system today stands in a what was described so aptly by Captain Boyle in Sean O’Casey’s classic Juno and the Paycock as a “state o’ chassis”.

Boyle’s description might have referred to the world in general, but when applied to the French political system, in which president Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble alliance failed to win a majority in last weekend’s Assemblé Nationale elections, it has a particular resonance.

The president’s alliance needed to win 289 seats for a majority in the French parliament but only racked up 245, seeing big gains going to both the hard left Nupes grouping led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon which took 131 seats and a historic surge by Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National party, which ended up with 89 seats, beating the 61 secured by the traditional party of the right, Les Républicains.

After five years of unchallenged superiority in parliament, Macron now faces a situation where his prime minister Élisabeth Borne is facing calls for her resignation, and his ability to deliver on key policy issues is challenged.

He will have to seek support from both right and left to get the backing needed to shake up the country’s benefits and welfare system and raise the retirement age. That will be a very difficult task for Macron as he tries to pull together the strings of parliament to push through the legislative agenda he wants.

Given the challenges facing both France and Europe right now, the incumbent in the Élysée Palace already has plenty on his plate without having to concern himself with a fractious assembly which, although united in opposition to Macron’s aims, is a very brittle political filigree.

Pleading to his opponents for a united front on the basis that it would best serve the interests of France is one thing, but actually getting such a patchworked political landscape to agree on anything might be nearly miraculous.

Realistically, Macron will be forced to make alliances with both Les Républicains and the Union des Démocrates et Indépendants , if he is to succeed in breathing life back into his agenda. He may also have to sack Borne and replace her with his first-term premier, Édouard Philippe.

With both the left and the right emboldened by the results, Macron’s ability to pull together the threads of a coalition could be in shreds. 

Indeed, such is his parlous position right now, he might be reflecting on the words of legendry US Democrat candidate and strategist Dick Tuck who, after losing a California state senate election battle commented ruefully: “The people have spoken, the bastards.”