Melenchon hails Macron's failure in elections
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The leader of the French Left praises Sunday's legislative elections in France as the "failure of Macronism".
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The leader of the French left, Jean-Luc Melenchon
Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of a coalition grouping the French left in the legislative elections, hailed the elections as "above all, the electoral failure of Macronism".
Melenchon told his supporters in Paris "It is a moral failure of the people who are always trying to teach everyone a lesson, who have presented themselves as a dam against the far-right."
He also said his NUPES alliance achieved its main objective of defeating Macron, whom he said was "so arrogant as to twist the arm of the whole country".
"We beat Macron. He doesn’t have the majority," he added.
Five French polling firms have projected that Macron's coalition will be able to garner 200-260 seats in the parliamentary elections, short of the 289 seats needed to secure a majority.
The left-wing coalition, NUPES, headed by Jean-Luc Melenchon, may win 149-200 seats according to projections. With only 60 seats in the outgoing parliament, this means that the coalition stands to triple its representation.
The far-right's Marine Le Pen was also expected to win big in these elections, going up from eight seats in the outgoing parliament to 60-102 seats, according to projections.
If Macron's alliance performs at the lower end of the projections, then there is the possibility of a hung parliament, which may lead to political paralysis in France, and the possibility of fresh elections to resolve the deadlock.
