Tuesday Briefing

Near Place de la République in Paris, after results were announced Sunday.Credit…Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times

France faces complicated months ahead

French voters may have rejected the far right in legislative elections on Sunday, but they now face a Parliament that is split and has an unclear path to a workable government, with an insurgent left in first place but still far short of holding power. These maps show how France voted.

It will take painstaking negotiations to eventually yield a viable government, my colleague Roger Cohen writes. France does not have a culture of such compromise, and the muddle could take months to sort out. President Emmanuel Macron asked his prime minister yesterday to remain in office “for the moment” to “assure the stability of the country.”

The New Popular Front, a left-wing alliance, has demanded that Macron ask it to form a government, saying it would soon put forward its choice for prime minister. Yet it is 100 seats short of a workable majority, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the combative left-wing leader, said he would not negotiate with potential coalition partners nor adjust the alliance’s program.

Possible scenarios: Macron could appoint a prime minister from outside his party and share power, but he has labeled the far-left and far-right parties too “extreme,” and other political groups have shown little appetite for working with him. Here’s more on what could come next.