A Country Without a Majority: Understanding France’s Political Crisis

Nov 5, 2025

2 min read

Updated: Jan 8

The summer of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, France had no Prime Minister. Yet, nothing stopped the French supporters from backing their athletes competing on the Olympic stages.

A little more than a year later, France has now had three different Prime Ministers: Michel Barnier, François Bayrou, and Sébastien Lecornu (the current PM as of November 2025). The National Assembly (One of France’s parliament) is fragmented, political alliances are struggling, and the 2026 budget has difficulties to be voted on.

The surprise dissolution

After the second round of the 2024 European elections, President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly, announcing new legislative elections on June 30 and July 7, just before the Olympic Games. Which means that French citizens need to go and vote for their new members of parliament. From 2022 to 2024, Macron’s coalition held a relative majority (largest group, but not over 50%). After the 2024 elections, everything changed.

French National Assembly in 2022 (© BBC)

What it means politically

The centrist presidential majority lost 83 seats in 2024, and is no longer the leading force. The NFP (Nouveau Front Populaire) is now the largest group (182 seats), but only with a relative majority. The Rassemblement National claims to be the biggest party (together with their allies, they claim 143 seats). The alliance between the centre and the right bloc could also claim to hold the largest potential majority (161 for the Centrist bloc and 46 for the Right bloc). Sources might disagree on seat numbers that each party claims, depending on how allied deputies are counted.

In short, everyone claims victory and in a way, everyone is right.

Why does this situation represent a political headache?

In France, the President is elected directly. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President, but needs enough support in Parliament to govern. With no clear majority, each Prime Minister faces the risk of a no-confidence vote. If the government collapses after the no-confidence vote, a new PM must be appointed. Since 2024, three Prime Ministers have already been appointed by Emmanuel Macron. New alliance might have to form in order to guarantee parliamentary majority for any party.