Not one hundred days, not a month, not even a single day. Emmanuel Macron began a second term without a traditional grace period. After winning re-election on April 24, France entered a peculiar political phase marked by fatigue and a string of debates. Although he entered as the favourite, the centrist leader faces challenges from the outset as legislative elections approach, with the possibility of losing an absolute majority in the National Assembly.
Macron pledged a complete renewal during his presidential campaign. Yet this month and the first weeks of the second half of the year showed few signs of change, with signs of strain more than novelty. The notable move came with the appointment of a new prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, along with other ministers, who signalled continuity rather than the disruption some had expected.
Macron bet on maintaining the same strategy as in the presidency, aiming to quiet the debate and delaying any full campaign push until the last moment. After a subdued May, Macronist supporters have sharpened their criticism of the new opposition leader in recent days, with Jean-Luc Mélenchon at the helm of a newly formed left unitary coalition. The big questions are whether this left coalition can redraw the political map, whether a lower turnout in legislative ballots compared to presidential ones will dampen young voters on the left, or whether a surprise result could emerge.
succession of arguments
According to the latest polls, Macron faces an unfavourable outlook for the June 12 and 19 elections. A study by Cluster 17 predicts the Left’s New People’s Union to lead in the first round with about 31 percent, ahead of the Together coalition led by Macron himself at around 27 percent. Another Ifop forecast suggests Macron’s camp could win the runoff and secure the largest parliamentary group, estimated between 310 and 270 MPs, while the left might be limited to 210–170. Yet even with a president in the lead, a simple majority of 289 seats is not guaranteed, complicating the future course of his second term.
In politics, as in physics, a vacuum rarely lasts. The absence of government announcements was offset by a wave of debates. Mid-May saw a candidacy linked to the president surface in Jérôme Peyrat, a deputy viewed as close to Macron. Convicted of spousal violence, Peyrat eventually faded under media pressure.
Then the Damien Abad case, the new Minister of Solidarity and Addiction, emerged. Reports from Digital Mediapart accuse the former head of the Republican parliamentary group of raping two women. Abad, who has a disability due to arthrogryposis, argues his condition forbids any sexual assault, and he denies the charges. Despite credible allegations, Macron kept him in cabinet, a move critics deem evidence of lax handling of sexual violence claims. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin is also under scrutiny for related allegations.
Champions League final debacle
The issue drew headlines with the sense that the campaign had not prepared the public for a disastrous final in the shadows of Paris. Broadly, France’s international image suffered not only from organisational failings but also from sporadic incidents of theft, large crowds, infiltrations by some supporters, long delays, and tear gas deployments by police. Darmanin’s communications responses drew additional scrutiny, with some data releases criticised as incomplete or misleading.
At a major rally of the unified left coalition in Paris, Mélenchon urged that the state’s management failures reveal a larger problem: a sense that public services and safeguards across climate policy, schools, and health care are strained under inflation and rising poverty. Critics argue these issues reflect governance gaps that will influence the election narrative and future policy choices.
Mélenchon is emerging as a formidable challenger not merely for the left’s appeal but for proposing a program of wide social reform. Macron, by contrast, appears to have fewer clearly articulated ideas at a moment seen as a historical crossroads for the country.