France Is Not Used to Coalition Governments. Does It Have a Choice?
The New York Times
No party got an absolute majority in the National Assembly. Here are some of the ways the country could escape political gridlock. None are easy.
When President Emmanuel Macron defended his decision last month to call snap legislative elections, he argued repeatedly that France needed a “clarification” of its political situation.
But on Monday, after the French cast their final ballots, the situation was anything but clear.
A nationwide vote for the 577 seats in the National Assembly, the country’s more powerful house of Parliament, has not produced a working majority. Instead, it has left unanswered the questions of who might be France’s next prime minister, who might form the country’s next government, and where the country is headed.
Here’s what you need to know about what comes next.
Three large blocs have emerged from the elections — none big enough to govern alone, all of them possibly too antagonistic to work together. None has reached the threshold for an absolute majority, 289 seats, which would enable them to form a government that could survive no-confidence votes by their rivals.
The New Popular Front, an alliance of left-wing parties including the Greens, the Communists, the Socialists and the hard-left France Unbowed party, came in first with about 180 seats in the National Assembly. Mr. Macron and his centrist allies came in second, with about 160 lawmakers, and the far-right, anti-immigration National Rally party and its allies trailed, with about 140 lawmakers.
U.S.-backed fighters said they had reached a truce with Turkish-supported forces in a northern Syrian town. The head of the U.S. military’s Central Command visited Syria and Iraq.
Israel has said it is striking Syrian military sites and chemical weapons stockpiles to prevent them from falling “into the hands of extremists.” The rebels who toppled the Assad government began laying out their plans.
The fighters who forced Bashar al-Assad into exile began the complex task of governing the Syrian capital. New York Times reporters entering the country saw relics of the deposed regime on the highway from Lebanon.
After just a few days of rapid advances, the rebels appeared to control Syria’s capital. They said they would work with a top official in President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Mr. al-Assad’s location was unclear.
A centuries-old bell rang and an archbishop knocked at the Gothic cathedral’s great doors, which reopened for a V.I.P. ceremony after its monumental reconstruction. It opens to the public on Sunday.
Two war monitoring groups said Syria’s military had pulled out of a number of Damascus suburbs where anti-government protests erupted. The movements could not immediately be confirmed.
President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would not seek to impose martial law again and that he would leave his fate to his party. Lawmakers will vote on whether to impeach him later on Saturday.
The leader of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s own party has backed impeachment, on which the National Assembly is set to vote on Saturday.
The military has spent decades trying to rehabilitate its image and win public trust after a brutal past. Its role in President Yoon’s martial law raised a specter from that era.
Top military officials offered the first inside account of when President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law. Mr. Yoon faces impeachment on Saturday, and massive protests against him are planned.
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s attempt to break a political deadlock by imposing military rule collapsed within hours, leaving him with few defenders. A vote to impeach him could come as soon as Friday.