France’s president Emmanuel Macron suffered a shock in Sunday’s parlamentary elections when his La Republique en Marche party won the greatest number of seats but still fell well short of the 289 required to command an absolute majority.
Instead, it was far-right National Rally candidates backed by Marine Le Pen, whom Mr Macron defeated in April’s presidential election, and the leftist United Front coalition led by socialist Jean-Luc Melenchon that made the most dramatic gains.
