Macron seeks to salvage power after polls upset

FE Team | Published: June 21, 2022 21:16:28

PARIS, June 21 (AFP): French President Emmanuel Macron will meet party leaders including the far-right Marine Le Pen for talks, the Elysee said Monday, after he and his allies lost their overall majority in the legislative elections.
Macron's discussions with opposition leaders will start on Tuesday with Christian Jacob, head of the traditional conservative Republicans (LR) party that has been in decline in recent months but could be courted to give Macron a parliamentary majority.
Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure and Communist Party boss Fabien Roussel, members of the NUPES left-wing alliance, will also meet Macron, although the hard-left Jean-Luc Melenchon, who leads NUPES, is not scheduled to do so.
In a rare encounter, Macron will also host Le Pen-his presidential election rival and leader of the far-right National Rally.
The aim is to "build solutions to serve the French" at a time when there is no "alternative majority" to that of Macron's ruling alliance, said a presidential official who asked not to be named.
Representatives of the parliamentary parties will be received at the Elysee Palace separately and successively.
The result of the parliamentary elections was a stunning blow for the president and his reform agenda, leaving his camp facing the prospect of a political deadlock.
While Macron's Ensemble (Together) coalition remains the largest party after Sunday's National Assembly elections, it fell dozens of seats short of keeping the absolute majority it has enjoyed for the last five years.
Melenchon and Le Pen made big gains, leaving them as major players in the new parliament.
The left-leaning Liberation daily called the results a "slap in the face" for Macron, while the conservative Figaro said he was now "faced with an ungovernable France".