PARIS (AP) — A coalition of France’s left-wing parties won the most seats in Sunday’s key parliamentary elections, beating back a push from the far right but falling short of a majority. The result leaves France, a pillar of the European Union and Olympic host country, facing the daunting prospect of a parliament without a clear majority and political paralysis.

The political turmoil could shake the markets and economy of France, the EU’s second-largest, and have far-reaching consequences for the war in Ukraine, global diplomacy and Europe’s economic stability.

After the extreme right made strong gains in the European Parliament elections in France, President Emmanuel Macron said in announcing the new elections for June 9 that a new address to voters would bring “clarity”.

At almost every level, that gamble appears to have backfired. According to official results released early Monday, all three major blocs fell far short of the 289 seats they need for a majority in the 577-seat National Assembly, the more powerful of France’s two legislative chambers.

The results showed just over 180 seats for the left-wing New Popular Front coalition, putting it in first place ahead of Macron’s centrist alliance with more than 160 seats. Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National and her allies were limited to third place, although their more than 140 seats were still well above the party’s previous best – 89 seats in 2022.

A parliament without a clear majority is new territory for modern France.

“Our country is facing an unprecedented political situation and is preparing to welcome the world in a few weeks,” said Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who plans to offer his resignation later in the day.

With the Olympic Games in Paris approaching, Attal said he was ready to stay in his post “as long as duty requires.” Macron’s term as president ends in three years.

Attal made his disapproval of Macron’s surprise decision to call new elections clearer than ever, saying “I did not vote for this dissolution” of the outgoing National Assembly, where the president’s centrist alliance was once the largest faction, albeit without an absolute majority, but was nevertheless able to govern for two years, attracting deputies from other camps to fend off attempts to overthrow it.

The new term seems to have lost that stability. When Macron flies to Washington this week for a NATO summit, he will leave behind a country that has no clear idea of ​​who its next prime minister might be and that will face the prospect that the president could be forced to share power with a politician deeply opposed to his policies.

Still, many cheered. In Stalingrad Square in Paris, supporters of the left cheered and applauded as projections of the alliance flashed on a giant screen. In the Place de la République in eastern Paris, there were also cries of joy, people spontaneously hugged strangers and there was minutes of uninterrupted applause after the projections appeared.

Marielle Castry, a medical secretary, was on the Paris metro when the expected results were first announced.

“Everyone had their smartphones with them and was waiting for the result, and then everyone was overjoyed,” said the 55-year-old. “I’ve been stressed since June 9 and the European elections. … And now I’m fine. Relieved.”

A newly drawn political map

Even before the votes were cast, the election redrawn the political map of France, spurring parties on the left to put aside their differences and join forces in a new left-wing coalition that promises to roll back many of Macron’s reforms, launch a hugely costly public spending program and take a far tougher line on Israel because of the war with Hamas.

Macron described the left-wing coalition as “extreme” and warned that its economic program, with tens of billions of euros in public spending, partly financed by tax increases on top earners and the wealthy, could be ruinous for France, which is already being criticized by EU regulators over its debt.

Nevertheless, the leaders of the New Popular Front immediately urged Macron to give the alliance the first chance to form a government and propose a prime minister.

The most prominent leader of the left-wing coalition, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said they were “ready to govern”.

Although the Rassemblement National won more seats than ever before, the anti-immigration party with historical ties to anti-Semitism and racism fell far short of its hopes of an absolute majority that would have given France its first far-right government since World War II.

“Disappointed, disappointed,” said 66-year-old right-wing extremist Luc Doumont. “Well, I’m happy about our progress, because we’ve been doing better in recent years.”

After the party took the lead in the first round of voting last weekend, its rivals tried to dash its hopes of a clear victory on Sunday by strategically withdrawing their candidates from many constituencies. This left many far-right candidates with only one opponent in a head-to-head duel, making it more difficult for them to win.

Many voters decided that keeping the far right out of power was more important to them than anything else and supported their opponents in the runoff, even if they did not come from the political camp they normally support.

Nevertheless, the leader of the Rassemblement National, Le Pen, who is expected to run for the French presidency for the fourth time in 2027, said the elections had laid the foundation for “tomorrow’s victory”.

“The reality is that our victory is only postponed,” she added. But Le Pen’s older sister Marie-Caroline was one of her party’s losers on Sunday. She lost to a left-wing candidate and received only 225 votes in her constituency.

Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s 28-year-old protégé who had hoped to become prime minister, lamented that the national result “drives France into the arms of the extreme left”.

A statement from Macron’s office said he would not be pressured into appointing a potential prime minister to form a government, saying he was monitoring the results and would wait for the new National Assembly to take shape before taking “the necessary decisions.”

New territory

Unlike other European countries that are more accustomed to coalition governments, France has no tradition of MPs from rival political camps joining forces to form a majority. France is also more centralized than many other European countries, and many decisions are made in Paris.

The president hoped that, with France’s fate in their hands, voters might move away from the far right and left and return to established parties closer to the center – where Macron found much of the support that won him the presidency in 2017 and again in 2022.

But instead of supporting him, millions of voters used his surprise decision as an opportunity to vent their anger over inflation, crime, immigration and other grievances, including Macron’s style of government.

The sharp polarization of French politics – especially in this heated and fast-moving election campaign – is sure to complicate any efforts to form a government. Racism and anti-Semitism marred the campaign, as did Russian disinformation campaigns, and more than 50 candidates reported physical attacks – highly unusual for France.

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This article has been updated to remove the exact seat counts reported by the French media and to reflect the fact that the official results do not give exact totals for each main bloc.

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Associated Press journalists Barbara Surk in Nice, France, and Helena Alves, Diane Jeantet, Jade Le Deley and Alex Turnbull in Paris contributed to this report.

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Follow AP’s global election coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/global-elections/

John Leicester, Lori Hinnant and Sylvie Corbet, The Associated Press