Leaders of France’s opposition parties all agree on the need to avoid political gridlock and must now learn to compromise, Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday, as he faces the biggest crisis of his career and unprecedented political deadlock after losing control of parliament, reports The Guardian.
In his first comments since his centrist grouping fell more than 40 seats short of an absolute majority in parliamentary elections on Sunday, Macron said that agreements needed to be found across party lines and that he would seek over the next weeks to establish a working majority.
“I cannot ignore the fractures, the deep divisions that run through our country and are reflected in the composition of the new [national] assembly,” Macron said in a televised address on Wednesday night.
Macron had enjoyed full control over parliament during his first term from 2017. But voters who re-elected him as president in April delivered a hung parliament on Sunday, angry over rising inflation and his perceived indifference.
“We will have to clarify in the course of the next few days how much responsibility and cooperation the different formations in the national assembly are prepared to accept.”