Just two months after a resounding win in the French presidential election, Emmanuel Macron suffered a shock in the country’s parliamentary elections as his La Republique en Marche party won 245 seats but fell well short of the 289 needed for an absolute majority.
The result leaves Mr Macron presiding over a minority government, forced to come to terms with a coalition partner or argue bill-by-bill to keep his economic reform agenda afloat as France, like much of the rest of Europe, struggles to address a cost of living crisis and rising inflation.
