French President Emmanuel Macron arrives to vote in the second round of the French parliamentary elections, at a polling station in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, France, June 19, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
PARIS (Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron was on course to lose his absolute majority in the French parliament after Sunday's election, first projections showed, an outcome which would constrain his ability to push through his reformist agenda.
Here are quotes from senior political officials, analysts and voters:
BRUNO LE MAIRE, FINANCE MINISTER
"This culture of compromise is one we will have to adopt but we must do so around clear values, ideas and political projects for France."
JEAN-LUC MELENCHON, LEADER OF THE LEFT-WING NUPES ALLIANCE
"(It is) a totally unexpected situation. The rout of the presidential party is complete and no clear majority is in sight."
"France has spoken and, it must be said, with an insufficient voice because the level of abstention is still much too high, which means that a large part of France does not know where to turn."
MARINE LE PEN, LEADER OF THE FAR-RIGHT
"The people have decided to place a powerful parliamentary group from the Rassemblement National inside the assembly."
"This group will be the largest in the history of our party. We have achieved our objectives: of making Emmanuel Macron a minority president, without control of power; of pursuing the political recomposition that is essential for democratic renewal."
OLIVIA GREGOIRE, GOVERNMENT SPOKESWOMAN
"There are moderates on the benches, on the right, on the left. There are moderate socialists and there are people on the right who, perhaps, on legislation, will be at our side."
GABRIEL ATTAL, BUDGET MINISTER:
"I am not going to hide the fact that these results, if confirmed, are far from what we hoped for. The French have not given us an absolute majority. It's an unprecedented situation that will require us to overcome our divisions."
JORDAN BARDELLA, INTERIM HEAD OF THE FAR-RIGHT RASSEMBLEMENT NATIONAL:
"It's Emmanuel Macron's own arrogance, his own contempt for the French people and his own impotence on security and purchasing power that has made him a minority president. It's a big breakthrough."
RACHIDA DATI, CONSERVATIVE MAYOR OF PARIS 7EME ARRONDISSEMENT
"It is an abject failure for this government. Even Mitterrand in 1988 did not hit this level. It is the failure of Macron's strategy. He will have to draw the consequences and change prime minister."
ALFONSO RODRIGUEZ, MACRON VOTER
"We would have liked things to go differently, to have a big majority to defend Emmanuel Macron’s agenda."
(Editing by Richard Lough)
