What the Mood Is Like in France After Surprise Election Results
The New York Times
The final tally confirms that the left has the most seats in the National Assembly, with the far right third. Now, there’s a scramble to figure out a way forward.
“And now, what do we do?” blared the front page headline of Le Parisien, a daily newspaper, as the shock of Sunday’s election results began to sink in.
The day after a historic election, France awoke to final results that none of the polls had predicted. The left-wing coalition’s New Popular Front took the most seats in the National Assembly, but nowhere near enough to form a government, followed by President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist coalition, which lost scores of seats. Finally, in third place, was the party that pollsters and pundits alike had expected to lead — the far-right National Rally.
Now the question gripping the country was who would govern France, and how.
In a country with little taste for political compromise and collaboration, it is unclear how a government can be formed and take on the important work of passing the country’s budget and enacting new laws.
On Monday morning, one question was answered, but seemingly only for now. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, from Mr. Macron’s party and once a favorite of the president’s, offered his resignation, but Mr. Macron asked him to stay on for the time being “to ensure the country’s stability,” the Élysée Palace said.
Mr. Macron will now need to wrestle with whom he wants as prime minister. The challenge will be naming someone capable of forming a government that the newly seated lawmakers on the left and the right will not topple with a no-confidence vote.
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.