French leftist party wins election, creating hung parliament

The New Popular Front coalition won 182 parliamentary seats after a second round of voting took place on Sunday. With the nation’s National Rally alliance, often characterized as far-right, winning 143 seats, no party can independently form the 289-seat majority necessary to control the 577-seat National Assembly. President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble alliance kept NPF from an overall parliamentary majority by winning 163 seats. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said he planned to submit his resignation on Monday to make way for the government’s new prime minister.

Macron called the election after his party lost seats to the National Rally in the European Parliament elections in June. Many expected the conservative alliance to sweep the snap election after winning the most support in the first round of voting.

What happened in the British parliamentary election? United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak resigned on Friday after the Conservative Party lost its majority in the parliamentary House of Commons. Sunak’s party won just under a quarter of the House vote with 121 seats. Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won 412 seats, making up about two-thirds of the body’s representation. Analysts believe Sunak called the election months earlier than expected in an attempt to capitalize on the decrease in inflation to his party’s advantage. King Charles III officially appointed Starmer as prime minister on Friday, ending the Conservative Party’s 14-year rule.

Dig deeper: Read Lauren Canterberry’s report for more on the UK election results and the new Labour Party Prime Minister Keir Starmer.