Macron holds postelection talks with French party leaders

22/6/2022 4:39

        French President Emmanuel Macron held talks Tuesday with France’s main party leaders in a bid to show he is open to dialogue after his centrist alliance failed to win an absolute majority in parliamentary elections.
        
        The meetings at the Elysee presidential palace come after Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne formally offered her resignation Tuesday, in line with the tradition after parliamentary elections.
        
        Macron immediately rejected the offer and maintained the current government.
        
        Macron’s Together! alliance won 245 seats in Sunday's parliamentary elections — 44 seats short of a majority in the National Assembly, France’s most powerful house of parliament.
        
        The leftist Nupes coalition won 131 seats to become the main opposition force.
        
        The far-right National Rally got 89 seats in the 577-member chamber, up from its previous eight.
        
        Macron held successive meetings with opposition members, including the president of The Republicans, Christian Jacob, the head of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, and far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
        
        Macron also met with representatives of his own party and allied movements. Other meetings were scheduled Wednesday.