France’s snap election produced a shock result on Sunday, July 7, as the right-wing National Rally came third despite winning the popular vote by more than three million.
The country’s unique electoral system sees two rounds of voting over two consecutive weekends. Seats which are not won outright in the first round are subject to a run-off in the second between the highest polling candidates in each constituency.
In a desperate attempt to prevent a National Rally majority, socialists and centrist parties colluded to reduce the number of anti-right-wing candidates thus avoiding a split in the vote.
As a result, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (and allies) only won 143 seats out of 577 (24.7%) despite winning 37% of the overall vote. In comparison, the socialist New Popular Front will take 182 seats (31.5%) having only achieved 25.8% of the vote, while Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble coalition won 168 seats (29.1%) with a similar vote share.
With no political grouping taking an outright majority and coalitions looking unlikely given the vast ideological differences, one of the world’s most powerful nations is now in chaos.
France’s election has been fraught with anger, with left-wing extremists protesting at the possibility of a “far-right” group taking control of the country’s parliament just weeks after the European elections.
American commenters on X drew comparisons with the electoral system in the United States, where Democrats have ramped up efforts to prevent a second Donald Trump presidency.
Others highlighted similarities with the United Kingdom, where the left-wing Labour Party amassed 33.8% of the vote yet controls 63.2% of parliamentary seats after the General Election just two days earlier.
Left-wing parties now dominate national affairs in Western Europe, while the lack of correlation between popular vote and seats won is already raising questions over the effectiveness of democracy in the continent.
