Just a few days after his 74th birthday, the election of communist André Chassaigne as National Assembly president would have been considered among the crowning achievements of his career. The left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP) — comprised of socialists, communists, greens and the far-left party France Unbowed (LFI) — had unexpectedly nominated the provincial politician as their joint candidate for the country's fourth highest state office.

But after Thursday's vote, the New Popular Front, the surprise winner of the snap parliamentary elections called by President Emmanuel Macron at the beginning of July, remains empty-handed. In the decisive third round of voting, the previous parliamentary president Yael Braun-Pivet received 13 more votes than Chassaigne, shattering his chance to become the first communist parliamentary president in French history.

The complicated process of finding a majority in the newly elected National Assembly will determine the coming months for French politics. Because Macron's centrist Ensemble alliance of parties lacks even a relative majority with 163 MPs (absolute majority: 289 MPs), the president will have to govern along with his political opponent, shifting some of the power from Elysee Palace to the National Assembly. Personnel decisions will now be fraught.

The role of parliamentary president entails not only representative duties, but also the chairing of debates and........

© Deutsche Welle