“Both the French who call themselves left-wing and those who call themselves right-wing are deeply dissatisfied with Mr. Macron's presidency,” Leroy explains.
The three main political powers in France – the left-wing coalition led by Jean-Luc Melenchon, the right-wing National Rally and Macron’s central-right Renaissance party – now find themselves at an impasse as each of them now has comparable clout but is reluctant to form an alliance with one another, Leroy notes.
“How will this unfold in the coming weeks and months? This is the great unknown today,” he muses. “At the moment, no one can speak of a prime minister, since no head is emerging in the camp of the majority or the left. And in any case, the situation will be extremely difficult to maintain.”
“It is possible that Mr. Macron will bet on a technical government that is as less politicized as possible, in order to have a kind of general consensus for at least a year and at the end of this year, to make sure that he can dissolve the National Assembly again and make the country go back to the polls for new legislative elections,” he adds. “Let's hope that this time, a majority can get out of it.”
Leroy also argues that whatever violent protests broke out in the wake of the election “are the work of small groups of political agitators, often in connivance with the government in place and who are intended to create an atmosphere of unease, an atmosphere of chaos.”
“Today, almost certainly, none of the political parties that have national representation in Parliament has really incited the riots or misbehaviors that have been observed since last night,” he states.