Less than two months after he was re-elected president, Emmanuel Macron is on course to lose control of the French National Assembly following a strong performance by rival parties.

His centrist Ensemble coalition is on course to win parliamentary elections, according to projected results.

But he is set to lose dozens of seats and will struggle to push his reforms.

A left-green alliance is projected to come second, with Marine Le Pen's far-right party coming third.

President Macron now faces the prospect of losing some of his cabinet ministers.

Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon told supporters that the presidential party had suffered a total rout and every possibility was now in their hands.

Ms Le Pen was in jubilant mood saying the people had spoken: Emmanuel's Macron's adventure was over and he had been consigned to a minority government, she said.

Mr Macron had more than 300 seats in the outgoing parliament and defeated Ms Le Pen's National Rally convincingly in the presidential election in April. To maintain his outright majority he needed 289 seats, but Sunday's projection of around 210 to 250 seats is worse than the pollsters expected.

Mr Mélenchon's Nupes alliance is set to win 150 to 180 seats, while the far-right National Rally is on course to go from eight seats to between 80 and 100, says TF1 TV.

A separate projection for France Télévisions gave a more concrete result.

Jean-Luc Melenchon voted at a polling station in Marseille, France, June 19, 2022. — Image caption,
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who voted in Marseille, formed an alliance made up of Communists, Socialists, Greens and his own far-left party

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