“I threw the grenade at their feet.” With this phrase President Macron is said to have described his move to announce early elections after the far-right’s impressive victory in the European elections in June, CNN reports.

The bet on early elections was controversial, while the result of the ballot took France by surprise: The left alliance came first with 182 seats, with the far-right ending up in third place – in a shocking reversal from the first round of the election.

In the Place de la République in Paris, the crowd gathered to greet the announcement of the exit polls with celebratory applause and fireworks, with one embracing the other, uttering cries of relief: in their eyes, France has moved away from the brink.

The turnout in Sunday’s election was the largest in more than 20 years. French voters went to the polls to express their feelings: they did not want the far right to rule the country.

A fragmented parliament

However, with the far left far short of the 289 seats needed to form a government and a weak president, the French National Assembly it will be more fragmented than ever.

What is certain is that France is entering one prolonged period of instabilitysince the three rival parties, which have different agendas, will either try to form a coalition government or find themselves in a state of paralysis.

A visibly disappointed Marine Le Pen protégé, Jordan Bardelas, claimed his party’s defeat was due to the tactics orchestrated by Macron and the left-wing alliance in their decision to withdraw 200 parliamentary candidates from the succession race in an attempt to prevent the far-right from to win first place.

Victory for the far right

Despite the fact that in the end the National Coalition did not do as well as the polls predicted, the final result remains a victory for the French far-right. After all, Marine Le Pen and her party in each electoral process receive more and more votes (and seats): 8 seats in 2017, 89 in 2022 and 143 in 2024 (the latter with the help of “allies”).

The difficulty for the left alliance

The leftist alliance, NFP, will struggle to speak with a common voice. The last time he had formed a coalition, in 2022 under the name Nupes, collapsed due to personal as well as political differences.

The left-wing coalition consists of Mélenchon’s far-left “France Insubordinate” and the Communist party, which have allied with the centre-left party, the socialists and the environmentalists to create the New Popular Front.

The challenge now is not whether the far left can rally against the far right, but whether these different parties can work together, agree on who will be prime minister from their own camp, and then find a common front on the policies that they will follow.

How volatility can impact internationally

With a parliament so fragmented there is no hope for significant structural reforms at an internal level. The best leftist parties can hope for is ad hoc partnerships aimed at passing specific bills.

It is equally difficult to imagine how the current format will allow France to play a significant role regarding Ukraine. Macron has vowed to continue support for Ukraine, while Le Pen has said her party will prevent Kiev from using long-range weapons given to it by France to strike inside Russia and that it will oppose the mission. French troops.

The left has generally kept a fishy silence on the issue of Ukraine – the different parties that have made up the left coalition have different views on the matter – with the “Unruly Left” opposing what it calls “escalation” with Russia.

Macron’s centrist bloc appears to be holding out, having won 163 seats. Although he has lost about 100 MPs, the result is much better than the polls predicted,

Macron’s bet may have kept the far right out of power, but on the other hand, it may plunge the country into chaos. France is going through a period of uncertainty with the eyes of the world to be on Paris which is preparing for the Olympics in three weeks.