French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, June 19, lost his absolute majority after major election gains by a newly formed left-wing alliance and a historic breakthrough for the far right, in a stunning blow to his hopes of major reform in his second term.
The run-off election was decisive for Mr. Macron's second-term agenda following his re-election in April, with the 44-year-old needing a majority to secure promised tax cuts and welfare reform and raise the retirement age. ...
The expected number of seats for Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National (90) amounts to a historic breakthrough. Only once under the Fifth Republic had the far right passed the threshold to form a group in the Assemblée (15 MPs), which allows for certain parliamentary resources and prerogatives.
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