Electoral rebuff for Macron

When strong Western leadership is needed over the war in Ukraine, French voters have inflicted a stinging reversal on Emmanuel Macron. Just two months after he won another five-year term as President, they stripped his party of its parliamentary majority and installed in the National Assembly a powerful combination drawn from France’s Russophile, anti-EU and anti-NATO far left and populist far right.

Mr Macron’s centrist Together coalition won 245 seats, well short of the 289 needed for a majority in the 577-seat parliament – a big reversal from the 350 seats it won in 2017. The “red-green alliance” NUPES (the New Ecological and Social Popular Union), a constellation of far-left parties spearheaded by firebrand anti-capitalist Jean-Luc Melenchon, won 131 seats. Mr Melenchon’s Unbowed France party won 86 seats, up from 17 last time. His ideological opposite, Marine Le Pen, and her populist National Rally party, trounced by Mr Macron in the presidential election, also did remarkably well, winning 89 seats, up from seven.

Centre-right Republicans, once a dominant force in French politics, finished with 61 and could offer Mr Macron a lifeline, especially when it comes to economic reforms. But even with power vested mainly in him as President, the legislative outlook will be extremely challenging, especially when it comes to supporting Ukraine. With Mr Melenchon and Ms Le Pen vowing to make life as difficult as possible for Mr Macron, it is imperative that he holds his ground. Angela Merkel’s departure as German chancellor has left Mr Macron as Europe’s pre-eminent national leader. He has a crucial role to play in determining the future of the Ukrainian crisis. He must stand firm against the far left and far right.