The second round of parliamentary elections in France held June 19 established two key facts.
President Macron’s party suffered a stinging rebuke. For the first time since France went to five-year terms for its president and held parliamentary elections after the presidential elections, the president’s party failed to win a majority. It got 245 seats, 44 seats less than a majority. It was clear that Macron won the presidential elections only because French voters didn’t want fascist Marine Le Pen, his rival in the runoff vote, to be president.
His party’s left-wing opponents, united in a coalition called NUPES, won 131 seats — the way the government counted them — and 142 seats the way NUPES tallied them.
The second key fact is that the fascist National Rally (RN), formerly named the National Front (FN), got 89 seats, 80 seats more than it had in the last parliament.
The General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the oldest and most militant trade union confederation in France, explains this startling gain for the RN, by pointing out that Macron’s party gave no support to nonmember candidates running against an RN candidate. Macron’s party had the position that it was opposed to both the “extremes,” those of the “left” from NUPES and those of the “right” from RN.
The CGT took the opportunity in its comments on the parliamentary elections to say it supports any improvement in the wages and social benefits for workers.
Download the PDF of October 24 print issue Yahya Al-Sinwar 1962-2024 His life will inspire…
As November 5 and the 2024 U.S. presidential election draw closer, one thing is crystal…
Workers World Party condemns the designation by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of…
Seattle Hundreds of Indigenous people and their supporters marched in downtown Seattle on Oct.14 in…
Workers World Party salutes the heroic revolutionary leader Yahya Al-Sinwar, chair of the Political Bureau…
The 33,000 striking workers at Boeing — members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM)…