This is a surprising result, perhaps the biggest surprise in the history of French elections: no one expected it: neither pollsters, citizens nor politicians.
France will not have a far-right government, but that answer, that fact alone, does not cover another important point: the country remains shrouded in uncertainty.
The election that was meant to bring clarity has done the exact opposite: the future is a messy landscape dotted with political gridlock, public anger, long-standing feuds and a plethora of unanswered questions.
What is clear is that the French Parliament will be divided into three factions.
French elections an ‘absolute shock’ – latest updates
The largest, but far from a majority, was a left-wing coalition called the New Popular Front, a centrist group rallied around President Emmanuel Macron, which came in a surprising second place, while the National Rally (RN), which almost everyone expected to be the largest, only came in third.
There is no love between these groups – in fact, hatred spreads in all directions, making the prospects for a union difficult to predict.
Mr Macron, for example, has long despised Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the largest party in the left-wing coalition, just as he despises Ms Le Pen.
The rest of the left-wing coalition has turned against him because of his inflammatory comments about Israel and Gaza, but they need his support too.
Pictured: Jean-Luc Mélenchon, founder of the far-left party Unbowed France, speaks on Sunday night. Photo: AP
So even if Mélenchon now wants to be the leader of his group, it won’t be easy. For example, his coalition partners would not accept him as prime minister. So who will get the job? No one knows.
The left-wing parties are all united in their fierce opposition to the RN, and have even aligned themselves with the Centre Coalition in a tactical plan to block it in as many constituencies as possible.
There are also differences of opinion on the right, with centre-right Republicans appearing to be split between those who support Le Pen’s party in a coalition government and those who would rather step down than help Marine Le Pen’s party leader.
Pictured: Supporters of the far-left French party “Unbow France”. Photo: Reuters
It’s a morass of debate, rife with the most visceral and divisive anger. Mr Macron, who called these elections hastily after a humiliating defeat in the European Parliament, is hated and widely derided as a “rich man’s president”. But the left-centre coalition seems to be working well.
A week ago, after the RN’s landslide victory in the first round of the election, many expected the party to win a majority in the general election and for Jordan Bardella, a 28-year-old protégé of Ms Le Pen, to become prime minister.
But those hopes have been dashed. France has turned its back on the RN. Perhaps this was Macron’s aim: to present the French people with a vision of an RN government and hope that they would rebel against the idea.
Pictured: National Rally Chairman Jordan Bardella. Photo: Reuters
So the question is: if Bardella’s chances of becoming prime minister are gone and Mélenchon proves untenable, who will take the job instead? And no one knows.
There is no guide for this, no mechanism to fall back on.
Gabriel Attal, a Macron stauncher who was appointed prime minister earlier this year, may continue in his position simply because that is what he holds until the situation changes.
But without a coalition government, his power to do anything or to exert any influence will be even weaker than it was before, which, by the way, was close to zero.
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As public interest reflects, these are turbulent times.
The election saw the highest voter turnout in decades, driven in large part by the RN’s tactics for polarising public opinion and creating a hunger to vote.
While many flocked to the polls to support them, many more appeared to have turned out in the second round with the explicit desire to stop France from installing its first far-right government since the Second World War.
Take Etienne, for example. We met him as he emerged from a polling station in the 6th arrondissement, moments after dropping his ballot into a transparent box. He is 31, a filmmaker, and feels anxious about his future.
“My grandfather fought against the fascists, that’s why I don’t accept the Rally National,” he told me, promising to “take to the streets” and protest if the Rally National takes power. “We are real warriors. I defend multiculturalism.”
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The other woman, smiling and unmistakably Parisian, grimaced when I asked her about the RN and said she was “scared” of the party and worried about Bardella: “If they win, I’ll feel miserable and scared because he looks so clean but deep down I don’t know who he is.”
Paris’ overwhelming rejection of the RN is just another rift caused by the elections.
Both Bardella and Le Pen enjoy strong support outside the big cities, in rural areas, the northeast and northwest of the country and across the country.
Taking Hungary as an example, as in other countries where populist politicians are active, there is a division between metropolitan politics and the rest of the country.
It’s hard to predict what will happen next.
France, one of the world’s richest and most influential countries, is in a precarious position.
