French President Emmanuel Macron will meet leaders of rival parties including the far-right Marine Le Pen for talks, the Elysée said, France 24 reported. The decision comes after he and his allies lost their overall majority in the legislative elections.
Macron, on Tuesday, will meet with Christian Jacob, head of the traditional conservative Republicans (LR) party. The Republicans party has been on the decline in recent months, but, an alliance with them could give Macron the majority he needs.
Macron will also meet with Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure and Communist Party boss Fabien Roussel, members of the NUPES left-wing alliance. However, the hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who leads NUPES, is not scheduled to meet with the President.
Macron, in April, might have won the presidential elections. But, he didn't win by a big margin-- Macron won 27.8 per cent of the votes, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen won 23.1 per cent votes, while far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon won 22 per cent votes.
In a bid to rally more support, Macron is also expected to meet with his far-right rival Marine Le Pen of the NPR party.
At the parliamentary elections with a low turnout due to an abstention of 53.7 per cent, Macron's alliance won 244 seats-- 289 seats are needed for a majority. The left-leaning Liberation daily called the results a “slap in the face” for Macron.
Le Pen and Mélenchon become major players in the parliament, forming a formidable resurgent opposition after making big gains in the elections.
