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Louise Thomas
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Watch a view of the French National Assembly on Monday 8 July after surprise election results.
France faces a hung parliament and the prospect of taxing negotiations to form a government, after a left-wing surge blocked Marine Le Pen’s quest to bring the far right to power.
The leftist New Popular Front (NFP) emerged as the dominant force in the National Assembly after Sunday’s election, but with no single group securing a working majority the possibilities include the NFP forming a minority government or the building of a broad, unwieldy coalition.
Results delivered a stinging blow to president Emmanuel Macron and leaves the euro zone’s second largest economy in limbo, heralding a period of political instability just weeks before Paris hosts the Olympic Games.
Mr Macron ended up with a hugely fragmented parliament, in what is set to weaken France’s role in the European Union and further afield, and make it hard for anyone to push through a domestic agenda.
The left won 182 seats, Macron’s centrist alliance 168 and Le Pen’s National Rally and allies 143, interior ministry data cited by Le Monde newspaper showed.
