Berliner Boersenzeitung - France begins choosing new parliament in test for Macron

EUR -
AED 4.309508
AFN 80.781552
ALL 97.370238
AMD 450.366626
ANG 2.099834
AOA 1075.906156
ARS 1493.577732
AUD 1.787447
AWG 2.114267
AZN 1.992805
BAM 1.952188
BBD 2.367829
BDT 143.364713
BGN 1.952329
BHD 0.442219
BIF 3495.36185
BMD 1.173289
BND 1.498347
BOB 8.104004
BRL 6.480538
BSD 1.172735
BTN 101.293563
BWP 15.672998
BYN 3.837915
BYR 22996.462534
BZD 2.355651
CAD 1.604777
CDF 3389.631588
CHF 0.934763
CLF 0.02842
CLP 1114.917818
CNY 8.393689
CNH 8.411755
COP 4779.697409
CRC 592.012089
CUC 1.173289
CUP 31.092156
CVE 110.060402
CZK 24.533945
DJF 208.624842
DKK 7.46403
DOP 71.159234
DZD 151.879696
EGP 57.556817
ERN 17.599334
ETB 161.755051
FJD 2.631393
FKP 0.867546
GBP 0.871625
GEL 3.179596
GGP 0.867546
GHS 12.255322
GIP 0.867546
GMD 84.476756
GNF 10174.259906
GTQ 9.000345
GYD 245.355985
HKD 9.208634
HNL 30.708568
HRK 7.52688
HTG 153.897845
HUF 396.170405
IDR 19162.858366
ILS 3.941828
IMP 0.867546
INR 101.596378
IQD 1536.257255
IRR 49410.122829
ISK 142.109196
JEP 0.867546
JMD 187.764954
JOD 0.831839
JPY 173.465486
KES 151.587053
KGS 102.431291
KHR 4699.3842
KMF 491.018813
KPW 1055.939086
KRW 1621.743342
KWD 0.358193
KYD 0.977287
KZT 636.549394
LAK 25280.220587
LBP 105077.009581
LKR 353.955029
LRD 235.135898
LSL 20.673245
LTL 3.464417
LVL 0.709711
LYD 6.329315
MAD 10.53291
MDL 19.719678
MGA 5170.49843
MKD 61.446298
MMK 2463.337809
MNT 4208.926987
MOP 9.482154
MRU 46.640291
MUR 53.278618
MVR 18.06468
MWK 2033.563021
MXN 21.77775
MYR 4.957132
MZN 75.043516
NAD 20.672658
NGN 1792.985054
NIO 43.160502
NOK 11.926793
NPR 162.072168
NZD 1.953398
OMR 0.451131
PAB 1.17273
PEN 4.170183
PGK 4.931916
PHP 67.069862
PKR 333.201931
PLN 4.251356
PYG 8783.783609
QAR 4.287729
RON 5.07354
RSD 117.096602
RUB 93.420739
RWF 1695.184842
SAR 4.401525
SBD 9.72081
SCR 17.225578
SDG 704.555754
SEK 11.188583
SGD 1.502572
SHP 0.922021
SLE 26.927338
SLL 24603.28632
SOS 670.268281
SRD 42.931228
STD 24284.711468
STN 24.454956
SVC 10.260969
SYP 15256.139553
SZL 20.655778
THB 37.993446
TJS 11.141032
TMT 4.118244
TND 3.418275
TOP 2.747962
TRY 47.583823
TTD 7.970218
TWD 34.613183
TZS 3006.554009
UAH 48.99736
UGX 4208.212974
USD 1.173289
UYU 46.903408
UZS 14967.303972
VES 141.115448
VND 30669.771971
VUV 140.181839
WST 3.211864
XAF 654.753791
XAG 0.030178
XAU 0.000351
XCD 3.170872
XCG 2.113589
XDR 0.814304
XOF 654.748221
XPF 119.331742
YER 282.703684
ZAR 20.81428
ZMK 10561.013911
ZMW 27.352503
ZWL 377.798549
  • CMSC

    0.0000

    22.43

    0%

  • JRI

    -0.0600

    13.15

    -0.46%

  • NGG

    -0.4200

    72.23

    -0.58%

  • SCU

    0.0000

    12.72

    0%

  • BTI

    0.2500

    52.62

    +0.48%

  • BP

    -0.5800

    32.13

    -1.81%

  • SCS

    -0.1700

    10.51

    -1.62%

  • BCC

    -1.9200

    86.43

    -2.22%

  • GSK

    0.2000

    38.23

    +0.52%

  • AZN

    0.6800

    73.68

    +0.92%

  • CMSD

    -0.0400

    22.85

    -0.18%

  • RIO

    -0.7900

    63.83

    -1.24%

  • RBGPF

    7.0000

    75

    +9.33%

  • BCE

    -0.1700

    24.43

    -0.7%

  • RYCEF

    -0.2600

    13.24

    -1.96%

  • VOD

    0.2200

    11.52

    +1.91%

  • RELX

    0.6200

    53.71

    +1.15%

France begins choosing new parliament in test for Macron
France begins choosing new parliament in test for Macron / Photo: Sameer Al-DOUMY - AFP

France begins choosing new parliament in test for Macron

France votes Sunday in parliamentary elections with allies of President Emmanuel Macron seeking to retain a majority in the face of an increasingly competitive challenge from a new left-wing coalition.

Text size:

Elections for the 577 seats in the lower-house National Assembly are a two-round process, with the shape of the new parliament clear only after the second round, a week later, on June 19.

But they provide a crucial coda to April's presidential election, when Macron won re-election and pledged a transformative new era after his first term was dominated by protests, the Covid pandemic and Russia's war against Ukraine.

If the president's alliance Ensemble (Together) retains an overall majority, he will be able to carry on governing as before. Falling short could prompt a coalition with other right-wing parties and an unwanted cabinet shuffle weeks after the government was revamped.

A win by the left-wing coalition –- seen as unlikely by analysts but not impossible –- would be a disaster for Macron and raise the spectre of a clunky "cohabitation" -- where the premier and president are from different factions -- that has paralysed French politics in the past.

Left-wing leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, a former Marxist, has already made clear his ambition to become prime minister and stymie Macron's plan to raise the French retirement age, though the president would retain control over foreign policy.

- 'Lowered ambitions' -

While Macron and his EU allies breathed a heavy sigh of relief after his solid if unspectacular presidential victory against far-right leader Marine Le Pen, the last weeks have brought no sense of a honeymoon.

Energy and food prices are soaring in France as elsewhere in Europe, the treatment of English fans at the Champions League final in Paris damaged France's image abroad, and Macron has been accused by Ukraine of being too accommodating to Russia.

And two rape accusations against his new disabilities minister Damien Abad –- which he vehemently denied –- was the worst possible start for the new government after last month's long-awaited reshuffle.

New Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has yet to make an impact, and a major radio interview Tuesday was dominated by an exchange with a disabled caller who was left in tears after the premier suggested she should try to find work.

Meanwhile, the French left has moved on from the disunity that saw it fail to make the presidential election run-off by forming the Nupes alliance, which groups Melenchon's hard-left France Unbowed party, the Socialists, Greens and Communists.

Polls show that it is mounting an increasingly serious challenge to Macron's alliance, though the two-round system and a high abstention rate, predicted to reach record levels of well over 50 percent, could play into the hands of the president.

Polls project that the Together alliance and Nupes will be neck-and-neck in terms of the popular vote on around 28 percent in the first round, though this figure is quite distinct from the final seat breakdown.

"The day after Emmanuel Macron's re-election, his lieutenants saw the legislative elections as a formality," said leading French daily Le Monde.

"But now they have seriously lowered their ambitions... Even a defeat, unthinkable several weeks ago, is now considered not impossible at the Elysee," it said.

Macron has made clear that ministers who are standing in the election -- including Borne, who is making her first attempt at winning a seat -- will have to step down if they lose.

- 'Majority not assured' -

Of the 577 deputies in the National Assembly, eight represent France's overseas territories and 11 account for French nationals living abroad. Macron's party and his allies currently hold an absolute majority of 345 seats.

The latest poll by Ipsos projects that Macron's alliance would win 275 to 315 seats, meaning it is by no means assured of an absolute majority, for which 289 seats are needed.

"Projecting seats is a perilous exercise at this stage," said the managing director of Ipsos France, Brice Teinturier.

"An absolute majority (for Together) is not assured but the presidential majority does have a certain margin" that will play to its advantage in the second round.

Under France's system, a candidate needs over half of the vote on the day as well as the backing of at least 25 percent of registered voters in a constituency to be elected outright in the first round.

Otherwise the top two candidates in a constituency, as well as any other candidate who won the backing of at least 12.5 percent of registered voters, will go forward to the second round, where the candidate with the most votes wins.

The first round of voting for French living abroad took place early, with results published Monday showing Macron's candidates finishing top in eight out of the 11 constituencies as expected, but Nupes' candidates making major gains compared with the last parliament election in 2017.

(Y.Berger--BBZ)