French President Emmanuel Macron‘s “Republic Forward” party narrowly lost the absolute parliamentary majority, after the formation of a ninth parliamentary bloc in the National Assembly officially today, Tuesday.
In announcing the formation of their bloc called “Environment, Democracy, Solidarity” and consisting of 17 “independent” representatives, the deputies wrote that they “do not belong to either the majority or the opposition.” They belonged to the Macron party bloc in the “republic forward” parliament.
With the new bloc, the number of Macron party deputies drops to 288, below the threshold of the absolute majority (289) that it had on its own.
This is a strong indication that even if the presidential party can count on about 50 other members of centrist parties. The Republic Forward party will be able to quickly regain the absolute majority as one deputy joins its ranks, replacing a resigned deputy.
The new bloc, according to its members, intends to contribute to a “great ambition for social and environmental change”.
The National Assembly (the House of Representatives), which is elected by direct universal suffrage from the people, has greater powers than the Senate, whose members are elected through indirect voting.
Source: AFP
