“The will of the people must be strictly respected,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left France Unbowed party
As the French runoff vote closed on Sunday night, French voters were met with yet another surprise following the shock of French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to call for early elections last month: The majority of parliamentary seats that pollsters had expected for the far-right National Rally party were not won. It was not even close.
Initial predictions indicated that the New Popular Front, a left-wing alliance that quickly came together just days after Macron announced that legislative elections would take place, would win the most seats, with voter turnout at its highest level in more than 40 years.
“The will of the people must be strictly respected,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, while addressing a crowd of hundreds of supporters in northern Paris Sunday evening.
“Our people have clearly rejected the worst-case scenario. Tonight, the National Rally is far from having an absolute majority,” he said.
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
