France votes in election in test for Macron amid rampant inflation

French voters are casting their ballots in a parliamentary election that could deprive centrist President Emmanuel Macron of the absolute majority he needs to govern with a free hand.

According to pollsters, Macron’s camp is in no way guaranteed to reach the 289 threshold for an absolute majority in the National Assembly.

Opinion polls also see the xenophobic and anti-Muslim far-right likely to score its biggest parliamentary success in decades.

Nevertheless, a broad left-green alliance is expected to wind up being the largest opposition group, with the conservatives finding themselves as kingmakers.

Overnight, results of France’s overseas department brought bad news for Macron, with his minister for maritime affairs losing in her Caribbean constituency. Some 15 ministers are running in this election and Macron has said they’ll have to quit if they lose.

If Macron’s camp does fall short of an outright majority, that would open a period of uncertainty. It has to submit either to a degree of power-sharing among parties unheard of in France over the past decades or protracted paralysis and repeat of parliamentary elections down the line.

Macron is facing challenge from the rejuvenated left as rampant inflation driving up the cost of living sends shockwaves through the French political landscape.