Good morning from Geneva.
Global business leaders always knew this year was going to have some political surprises, as more voters than ever headed to the polls around the world. Yet even in this “super election year,” yesterday’s French parliamentary elections were an anomaly. They are a reminder, if anyone needed one, that politics is back as a strategic risk that business must reckon with.
The French weren’t supposed to vote until next year. President Emmanuel Macron caught everyone by surprise—business and political leaders alike—by calling the contest, a gamble after his party’s disappointing results in the European elections in May. Yesterday, an alliance called the New Popular Front, led by far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, unexpectedly gained a plurality of seats, denying a clear victory for the far-right National Rally party, led by Marine Le Pen. Macron's centrist coalition came in second, and the National Rally in third, leaving France with a hung parliament.
