Voters are heading to the polls across France to vote in the second round of a snap election called by President Emmanuel Macron, who risks losing swaths of his centrist allies in parliament and being forced to see out the remaining three years of his presidential term in an awkward partnership with the far right.

After taking the lead in the first round of voting last Sunday, the far-right National Rally (RN) – led by the 28-year-old Jordan Bardella under the watchful eye of party doyenne Marine Le Pen – is closer to power than ever before.

The RN, whose once-taboo brand of anti-immigrant politics has been given a fresh and more acceptable face by Bardella, won 33% of the popular vote in the first round. The newly-formed left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front (NFP), came second with 28%, while Macron’s Ensemble alliance trailed in a distant third with 21%.

But the prospect of a far-right government – which would be France’s first since the collaborationist Vichy regime during World War II – has spurred Ensemble and the NFP into action. After a week of political bargaining, hundreds of candidates stood down in particular seats to try to deny the RN an absolute majority.

Voting began at 8 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET), as France began the process of electing the 577 members of its National Assembly, in which 289 seats are needed for a party to hold an absolute majority. In the outgoing parliament, Macron’s alliance had only 250 seats, and so needed support from other parties to pass laws.

Only those who win more than 12.5% of the votes of registered votes in the first round can stand in the second, meaning it is often fought between two candidates. But this time a record number of seats – more than 300 – produced a three-way run-off, in a measure of France’s polarization. In an attempt not to split the anti-far right vote, more than 200 candidates from Macron’s alliance and the NFP agreed to stand down in the second round.

While RN’s strong showing in the first round means it could more than triple the 88 seats it had in the outgoing parliament, it is not clear if it will be able to reach an absolute majority. Although it is customary for the president to appoint a prime minister from the largest party, Bardella has repeatedly said he will refuse to form a minority government.

In that case, Macron might have to search for a prime minister on the hard left or, to form a technocratic government, somewhere else entirely.

Whatever the result of Sunday’s vote, France seems set to endure a period of political chaos, with Macron unable to call another parliamentary election for at least a year.

The campaign has already been marred with violence. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Friday that 51 candidates and campaigners had been assaulted on the campaign trail, leading to some being hospitalized.

The vote is being held three years earlier than necessary. France was not due to hold parliamentary elections until 2027, but Macron called the snap vote – the first time a French leader has done so since 1997 – after his party was trounced by the RN at last month’s European Parliament elections.

Although the European election results need have no bearing on domestic politics, Macron said he could not ignore the message sent to him by voters and wanted to clarify the situation.

Some have argued that, with the possibility of the RN winning both the presidency and the parliament in 2027, Macron was keen to expose it to government beforehand, in the hope that it would lose its appeal once in office. If the RN refuses to form a minority government, Macron’s gamble could backfire.

An RN-led government would have huge implications for France and the rest of Europe. Its spending plans – which include cutting value-added tax on electricity, fuel and other energy products – have alarmed financial markets and could put France on a collision course with Brussels’ restrictive spending laws.

On the continental stage, an RN-led government would further Europe’s rightward shift, at a time when the center is trying to remain united on issues like support for Ukraine, migration and climate change.

Standing between the RN and an absolute majority is the NFP, comprising more radical figures like Jean-Luc Melenchon, a three-time presidential candidate and leader of the France Unbowed party, as well as moderate leaders like Place Publique’s Raphael Gluckmann.

While Macron’s Ensemble allies said they will do everything in their power to stop the RN coming to power, it has refused to collaborate with or endorse candidates from France Unbowed. Gabriel Attal, Macron’s protege and the outgoing prime minister, has vowed never to enter into alliance with Melenchon.

Polls will close at 8 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET) Sunday, with the full results expected early Monday.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Russia on Monday for his first visit to the country since Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a sign that the two nations remain close despite the Kremlin’s deepening dependence on China.

During his two-day visit, Modi is expected to attend a private dinner hosted by Vladimir Putin and hold talks with the Russian president, according to India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

The summit will “provide an opportunity to the two leaders to review the whole range of bilateral issues,” Jaiswal told reporters in New Delhi last week, adding that Modi and Putin will “also share perspectives on regional and global developments of mutual interest.”

India remains heavily reliant on the Kremlin for its military equipment and has ramped up purchases of discounted Russian crude oil, giving Putin’s nation a major financial lifeline as it faces isolation from the West.

Trade between the two countries was worth nearly $65 billion in 2023-24, primarily due to strong energy cooperation, but most of that total flowed toward Russia, Jaiswal said.

Reducing the trade imbalance would be a “matter of priority” in Modi’s discussions with Putin, he added.

Modi last met with Putin on the sidelines of the 2022 SCO meeting in Uzbekistan, when he told the Russian leader: “Now is not the time for war.”

But while India has called for a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine and restoration of peace, it has also abstained from all resolutions on Ukraine at the United Nations and stopped short of condemning Russia’s invasion.

“I look forward to reviewing all aspects of bilateral cooperation with my friend President Vladimir Putin and sharing perspectives on various regional and global issues,” Modi said in a statement from his office before departing for Russia. “We seek to play a supportive role for a peaceful and stable region.”

Monday’s trip will be Modi’s first bilateral visit since winning a third consecutive term in a massive general election last month and is seen as a rare break in convention for an Indian leader who typically travels to neighboring countries such as Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

The visit also comes as Russia draws ever closer to China, potentially making New Delhi uncomfortable due to its longstanding Himalayan border dispute with Beijing, which has simmered in recent years.

Modi’s trip follows Putin’s return from Kazakhstan, where the Russian leader last week attended the annual leaders’ meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a bloc of Eurasian countries spearheaded by China and Russia, at which he claimed Moscow-Beijing relations were experiencing “the best period in their history.”

For India, that burgeoning relationship is “a matter of deep concern,” said Nandan Unnikrishnan, a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

“That is one of the reasons that Mr. Modi is undertaking this trip because traditionally, the Soviet Union and then subsequently Russia, has been a balancer in our relationship with China, which has been not the best since the late ’50s of the last century,” he said.

Despite India being an SCO member, Modi was visibly absent from the meeting in Kazakhstan, indicating to some analysts that the leader of the world’s largest democracy does not view the bloc as an effective channel through which New Delhi can pursue its interests.

Modi’s visit to Russia is also widely seen as the latest dent in efforts by Western leaders to cast Putin aside.

Despite undermining Western sanctions by purchasing large quantities of Russian oil, New Delhi has remained close with the United States, a key partner as both countries share concerns over China’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.

Modi met with US President Joe Biden during a state visit to Washington in June last year, in a trip further cementing their defense, trade and technology partnership. The Indian leader also addressed Congress during that trip, an honor typically reserved for close US allies and partners, and attended a lavish state dinner. India is a member of the Quad security grouping with the US, Japan and Australia.

Later that year, Putin did not attend the Group of 20 leaders’ summit in New Delhi, during which leaders delivered a consensus statement criticizing his invasion of Ukraine.

Following his Russia trip, Modi will visit Austria in the Indian leader’s first visit to the European nation, according to his office.

A Russian missile strike partially destroyed a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday, causing terrified patients and their families to flee for their lives, as officials fear more people could be trapped beneath the rubble.

Moscow launched a brazen daytime aerial assault on targets in cities across Ukraine during morning rush hour, killing at least 31 people and injuring 125 others, according to Ukraine’s emergency service.

In an update on Telegram, the emergency service said the latest figure included the number of dead and injured in the capital, which now stands at 20 people dead and 61 others hurt. Two people were killed and at least 10 were injured in the strike on Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt hospital.

The facility is Ukraine’s largest children’s medical center and has been vital in the care of some the sickest children from across the country. Every year, around 7,000 surgeries – including treatments for cancer and hematological diseases – are conducted at the hospital, according to Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.

Videos from the scene showed volunteers working with police and security services to sift through the rubble as smoke billowed from the hospital, as staff described how they tried to rush children to safety in the wake of the attack. Ukraine’s health minister Viktor Liashko said intensive care units, oncology departments and surgery units had been damaged.

“The key task here is to get people out of the rubble and provide assistance to those we can reach, as we have already taken out all the first ones,” he said in a Telegram post.

The attacks were part of a rare daylight bombardment on Ukrainian cities, some of which are heavily populated areas far from the front lines. It came a day before US President Joe Biden hosts a crucial NATO Summit in Washington, where new announcements over the alliance’s military, political and financial support for Kyiv are expected.

Russia’s defense ministry on Monday claimed that Moscow had struck “military industrial facilities of Ukraine and air bases of the Ukrainian armed forces” using long-range, high-precision weapons.

Eyewitnesses recount hospital strike

Natalia Sardudinova, a senior nurse, described the moment the strike hit the hospital saying that “it was scary, but we survived.”

She said two children had been in the operating theaters at the time of the blast, and both were relocated to the basement shelter once their procedures were completed.

“Everything was in smoke, there was no air to breathe. The doctor was cut by shrapnel. The windows and doors were blown out. One nurse in the hospital was heavily injured,” Sardudinova added. “My hands are still shaking. They don’t let anyone in now, they are afraid it will collapse.”

Yulia Vasylenko, the mother of an 11-year-old cancer patient at the hospital, said her son Denys was evacuated outside following the strike.

“My son is on painkillers. He has cancer. He has been without medication for half a day. He was brought down the stairs from the third floor. There was smoke (and) heavy dust,” she said.

“The lights went out, everything went out. We pulled out the instruments, shining flashlights. Everything was sewn up quickly,” Filimonova said. “The baby was brought down (to the shelter). I immediately ran to help clear the rubble. Some of my nursing colleagues who worked in the operating theaters and some doctors were cut by glass fragments. Our department was destroyed.”

Another operating theater nurse, Oksana Mosiychuk, said they sheltered in the emergency room when the explosion rocked the building. After that, she added, the medical team had to extinguish a blaze that broke out in their department, including an operating table which had caught fire.

“Fortunately, everyone is alive. One of our colleagues was heavily injured, he had numerous cuts and shrapnel wounds, and was taken away by an ambulance. I also have minor shrapnel wounds, but I’m fine. It was very scary. I was scared for the children,” she said.

Zelensky calls for UN action

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy said in a post on X that the exact number of casualties at the hospital was not yet known and that “there are people under the rubble” but that everyone from doctors to local residents are helping clear debris in the strike’s aftermath.

“Apartment buildings, infrastructure, and a children’s hospital have been damaged. All services are engaged to rescue as many people as possible,” Zelensky wrote in a post on X.

The bombardment struck targets in the capital Kyiv as well as in Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.

Zelensky later called for a United Nations Security Council meeting, while vowing retaliation over Monday’s strikes.

Ukraine shot down 30 out of 38 missiles launched by Russia during its attack on Monday, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement.

Russian forces used ballistic, cruise, guided and air-launched ballistic missiles in the strikes, Mykola Oleshchuk also said.

The Ukrainian security service said a cruise missile was used to attack Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt hospital.

In reaction to Monday’s bombardment, Ukraine’s defense minister Rustem Umerov said the country’s infrastructure was targeted by four dozen Kalibr cruise missiles and Kinzhal aero ballistic missiles, launched from Russia’s Volgograd region.

In a statement, Umerov continued to appeal for more air defense systems to support the war-torn country. Zelensky has repeatedly called on the West to provide it with more air defense systems to better protect its cities. Last month, he praised Biden for prioritizing the delivery of air defense systems after the two presidents signed a security agreement between their nations on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy.

Umerov said Monday that Kyiv was continuing “to work to ensure that the systems promised by our partners arrive in Ukraine as soon as possible.”

Scores of volunteers later dropped off much-needed supplies and donations – including water, food, medicine and diapers – to the hospital.

Several European nations denounced the attacks with France calling it “barbaric” while the United Kingdom’s new prime minister Keir Starmer said attacking innocent children was “the most depraved of actions.”

The French foreign ministry said in a statement that the strikes were “barbaric acts, aimed directly and deliberately at a children’s hospital, should be added to the list of war crimes for which Russia will be held to account.”

According to the World Health Organization, there have been more than 1,600 instances of heavy weapons attacks impacting medical facilities in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, with 141 people killed in these attacks.

Last December, 12 pregnant women and four newborn babies had a lucky escape from a maternity hospital in Dnipro that had been extensively damaged in an airstrike. Previously, the bombing of a maternity and children’s hospital in Mariupol less than a month after Russian troops flooded across the border sparked international condemnation.

This story has been updated with additional information.

It was an attack that sent shockwaves through a country long considered a pioneer in LGBTQ rights. In the early hours of May 6, four lesbian women were set on fire in Argentina. Only one of them survived.

It happened at a boarding house in the Barracas neighborhood of Buenos Aires, where Pamela Fabiana Cobas, Mercedes Roxana Figueroa, Andrea Amarante and Sofía Castro Riglo were sharing a room. Witnesses say a man broke in and threw an incendiary device that set the women on fire.

Pamela died soon after. Her partner Roxana died days later of organ failure. Andrea died on May 12 in a hospital.

Local LGBTQ rights advocates condemned the attack as a hate crime and lesbicide, saying the women were targeted because of their sexual identity. Police have arrested a 62-year-old man who lived in the building but, according to Conder, aren’t currently treating the incident as a hate crime as they say the motive is still unclear.

For Argentina’s LGBTQ groups – many of whom are planning to commemorate the four women with a rally this weekend – the attack represents an extreme manifestation of what they consider a growing wave of hostility against them. Those they blame most for this rising intolerance are the people in power. Chief among them, they say, is the country’s new far-right leader Javier Milei.

“Things changed with the new government of Javier Milei,” said Maria Rachid, head of the Institute Against Discrimination of the Ombudsman’s Office in Buenos Aires, and a board member and founder of the Argentine LGBT Federation (FALGBT).

“Since the beginning of the new government, there are national government officials expressing themselves in a discriminatory manner and those hate speeches before our communities from places with so much power, of course, what they do is generate – actually legitimize – and endorse these discriminatory positions that are then expressed with violence and discrimination in everyday life,” Rachid said.

Milei under fire

When Milei ran for president in 2023, he and his party were accused of making offensive remarks against LGBTQ communities which were deemed hate speech by multiple groups, including Argentina’s National Observatory of LGBTQ Hate Crimes.

In a YouTube interview ahead of the November election, Milei insisted that he does not oppose same-sex marriage, but in that same interview, he went on to compare homosexuality to having sex with animals.

“What do I care what your sexual preference is? If you want to be with an elephant, and you have the consent of that elephant, that’s a problem between you and the elephant,” he said, angering LGBTQ communities, who called the comments dehumanizing.

In late October, then-congresswoman-elect Diana Mondino, who would later become Milei’s foreign minister, told an interviewer that she supports marriage equality in theory, but at the same time, compared it to having lice.

“As a liberal, I’m in favor of each person’s life project. It is much broader than marriage equality. Let me exaggerate: If you prefer not to bathe and be full of lice and it is your choice, that’s it. Don’t complain later if there is someone who doesn’t like that you have lice,” she said.

After taking office in December, Milei took steps that critics say weakened protections for LGBTQ groups. He banned the use of gender-inclusive language in government; replaced the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity with a less powerful undersecretariat within the Ministry of Human Capital; and effectively closed the national anti-discrimination agency, saying the Ministry of Justice would absorb its functions.

Milei’s administration argued that some of those moves were part of his plan to cut public spending in response to the country’s economic hardships. But critics say his actions have normalized a culture of discrimination toward LGBTQ groups, and in the most extreme cases, have led to violent attacks such as the deadly May 6 arson.

“(Attacks) always happened. That’s the reality. But they increased more in this current government due to the hate speeches constantly maintained on television, including hate speeches that our president Javier Milei exerts,” said Jesi Hernández, a lesbian and communication member of Lesbianxs Autoconvocadxs por la masacre de Barracas (Self-convened Lesbians for the Barracas massacre).

“Today it was Pamela, Roxana, Andrea and Sofía. And tomorrow it can be me.”

Rise in hate crimes

In 2023, an annual report by the National Observatory of LGBTQ Hate Crimes recorded 133 crimes in which the victims’ sexual orientation, identity and/or gender expression were used as a pretext for the attacks. Those numbers rose from 2022 and 2021, when 129 and 120 crimes were recorded, respectively.

Rachid points out that the observatory’s numbers only represent attacks that have been officially recorded, and that the real figures are likely much higher.

Hernández, meanwhile, notes that daily life for many people has been impacted in ways not shown by statistics alone. Some now fear they could be targeted next.

“The truth is that now, sleeping peacefully in your bed is a privilege,” Hernández said, referencing the May 6 attack, “because you don’t know if you have a neighbor who will throw something at you or come in. Sleeping is now a privilege for us.”

Shortly after the May 6 killings, the presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni condemned the attack but dismissed the notion that it was motivated by hatred toward the sexual orientation of the victims.

“I don’t like to define it as an attack on a certain group,” Adorni said at a press conference. “There are many women and men who are suffering violence and these are things that cannot continue to happen.”

Progressives condemned his remarks, insisting that the government should regard lesbicide as a hate crime.

Adorni responded on social media with a picture of a Spanish dictionary that said lesbicide is not a registered word.

Progress in Argentina

Argentina was once a progressive pioneer in Latin America.

In 2010, it became the first country in the region to legalize same-sex marriage. In 2021, it also became the first to allow nonbinary people to mark their gender as “X” on national identity documents.

LGBTQ activists fear these historic gains are now being undermined – and potentially threatened – by the current government. But they also take comfort in surveys that suggest anti-LGBTQ views are the minority in Argentina.

According to a public opinion survey conducted in May by the University of San Andrés, some 72% of respondents said they are in favor of marriage equality, 70% said they support policies that protect transgender people from discrimination, 75% said they do not consider that transsexuality is a disease that should be treated medically, and 79% said that comprehensive sexuality education in schools is a positive thing.

The recent attacks have galvanized activists to fight for new policies and actions that would further protect LGBTQ rights.

He also said that to reduce attacks on LGBTQ communities, their voices and demands should be amplified in more societal sectors.

To that end, Hernández encouraged LGBTQ groups to push back against hate speech, telling those communities: “They are not insane, they are not sick, they are not people with lice. Quite the opposite. I would tell them that they are a disruptive person, that they are breaking out of the molds of ‘normality.’ And that they are very brave … and that they are whatever they want to be, despite all this.”

The condition of an American citizen injured Sunday after the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired missiles toward northern Israel is “worsening,” according to the medical center treating him.

The 31-year-old man suffered shrapnel injuries to his upper body and was admitted to the operating room Sunday evening local time, the Galilee Medical Center said in a statement.

Two other people injured by the missile fire – a soldier and a civilian – have also been hospitalized in a surgical department, the center added.

Hezbollah fired dozens of projectiles and anti-tank missiles toward northern Israel on Sunday, according to the Israeli military. It said the soldier had been lightly injured and evacuated to receive treatment.

The two civilians were both hit by shrapnel, according to the medical center.

“(He) was admitted to the shock room, where the medical teams had to anesthetize him and put him on a ventilator,” the center added.

The Israeli military said it had responded with strikes on Hezbollah military structures.

Hezbollah said in multiple statements on Sunday that it had fired rockets toward several Israeli military sites.

That comes after the Israeli military conducted an airstrike in northern Lebanon on Saturday that it said killed a senior Hezbollah operative.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Moscow has vowed to respond to Ukrainian attacks within its borders after a drone set on fire a warehouse allegedly storing munitions, prompting a state of emergency in Russia’s south-western Voronezh region.

The drone attack took place in a settlement in the Podgorensky district, Voronezh governor Aleksandr Gusev said Sunday. Ukrainian sources said the warehouse was targeted because it was being used to supply ammunition to Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.

“Several UAVs were detected and destroyed by on-duty air defense forces over the territory of the Voronezh region last night. A fire broke out at a warehouse due to the fall of their wreckage. Detonation of explosive items began in the Podgorensky district,” Gusev said.

He did not identify the settlement where the attack took place, but said a state of emergency had been declared there. No one was injured in the attack, but two elderly women were taken to hospital for checks, he said.

“Operational services, military and officials are working on the site to eliminate the emergency,” he said, adding arrangements have been made for the evacuation of residents from nearby villages as well.

“So far, some 50 people from three settlements have been transported to temporary accommodation centers. We are providing them with all the necessary assistance,” he said.

A Ukrainian source familiar with the matter said drones of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) targeted the warehouse because it was being used to supply ammunition to Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a state broadcaster following the attack that “the president has said that we would respond – and I am convinced that you will see it in the foreseeable future.”

“They – the United States and NATO – keep on saying that they are not at war with Russia. This is not a brave face on a bad situation, that’s what I’ll say, and they understand it perfectly well,” Lavrov said, according to state news agency TASS.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Ukrainian drone attacks had also been intercepted Saturday night in the border region of Belgorod.

Meanwhile, Russian attacks in Ukraine also continued on Sunday, injuring at least two people in the Kharkiv region, according to local authorities.

Further south in Kherson region, rescuers put out 14 fires due to Russian shelling that damaged residential buildings and cars, according to authorities.

On Sunday night, joy: French voters had, once again, kept the far right out of power. On Monday morning, uncertainty: A hung parliament, shaky alliances and the threat of turbulent years ahead.

President Emmanuel Macron called France’s snap parliamentary election to “clarify” the political situation. But after the shock second-round results, the waters are more muddied than they have been in decades.

While a surge in support for the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition foiled Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party, French politics is now more disordered than it was before the vote.

So, what did we learn last night, who might be France’s next prime minister, and has Macron’s gamble “paid off?”

A shock victory, but not a decisive one

After leading the first round of voting last Sunday, the RN was closer to the gates of power than ever before, and was on the cusp of forming France’s first far-right government since the collaborationist Vichy regime of World War II.

But after a week of political bargaining, in which more than 200 left-wing and centrist candidates withdrew from the second round in a bid to avoid splitting the vote, the NFP – a cluster of several parties from the extreme left to the more moderate – emerged with the most seats in the decisive second round.

The NFP won 182 seats in the National Assembly, making it the largest group in the 577-seat parliament. Macron’s centrist Ensemble alliance, which trailed in a distant third in the first round, mounted a strong recovery to win 163 seats. And the RN and its allies, despite leading the first round, won 143 seats.

Does that mean the NFP “won” the election? Not quite. Although the coalition has the most seats, it fell well short of the 289 seats required for an absolute majority, meaning France now has a hung parliament. If this was a victory for anything, it was the “cordon sanitaire,” the principle that mainstream parties must unite to prevent the extreme right from taking office.

The far right kept at bay, but more potent than ever

It was meant to be a coronation. Crowds of supporters had crammed into election night events at the RN party HQ in Paris and at outposts all over the country, to watch the moment many felt had been decades in the making: Confirmation that their party, and its long-taboo brand of anti-immigrant politics, had won the most seats in the French parliament.

That wasn’t to be. The fervent atmosphere soured as supporters saw the RN had slumped to third place. Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old leader handpicked by Le Pen to freshen the party’s image and purge it of its racist and antisemitic roots, was dyspeptic. He railed against the “dangerous electoral deals” made between the NFP and Ensemble which had “deprived the French people” of an RN-led government.

“By deciding to deliberately paralyze our institutions, Emmanuel Macron has now pushed the country towards uncertainty and instability,” Bardella said, dismissing the NFP as an “alliance of dishonor.”

Still, the RN’s success should not be underestimated. In the 2017 elections, when Macron swept to power, the RN won just eight seats. In 2022, it surged to 89 seats. In Sunday’s vote, it won 125 – making it the largest individual party. That unity means it will likely remain a potent force in the next parliament, while the solidity of the leftist coalition remains untested.

Will the left remain united?

A month ago, the NFP did not exist. Now, it is the largest bloc in the French parliament and could provide France with its next prime minister. It chose its name in an attempt to resurrect the original Popular Front that blocked the far right from gaining power in 1936. Sunday’s results mean it has done so again.

But while it achieved its founding purpose, it is unclear whether this capacious – and potential fractious – coalition will hold. The hastily assembled bloc comprises several parties: the far-left France Unbowed party; the Socialists; the green Ecologists; the center-left Place Publique and others.

This many-headed hydra does not speak with a single voice. Each party celebrated the results at their own campaign events, rather than together. Two of its most prominent figures – Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the populist France Unbowed leader, and Raphael Glucksmann, the more moderate leader of Place Publique – are barely on speaking terms.

Disagreements over economic and foreign policies could spill over, as the NFP’s expansive spending plans – which include raising the minimum wage, capping the price of certain foods and energy and scrapping Macron’s pension reforms – collide with the European Union’s restrictive fiscal rules and France’s need to rein in its ballooning deficit.

A better night for Macron than expected, but he emerges weakened

Macron once said his thoughts are “too complex” for journalists. Still, his decision to call a snap election – three years earlier than necessary, and with his party way behind in the polls – baffled the sharpest of political analysts, caught even his closest allies off guard and left many French voters confused.

He called the vote minutes after his party was trounced by the RN in last month’s European Parliament elections. Although European results need have no bearing on domestic politics, Macron said he could not ignore the message sent to him by voters and wanted to clarify the situation.

But Sunday’s results suggest he has achieved the opposite. Éduoard Philippe, France’s former prime minister and an ally of Macron, said what was “intended as a clarification has instead led to great vagueness.” Although Macron’s party recovered from the first round, it lost around 100 seats compared to the 2022 election.

Where does France go from here?

Macron’s first decision is to appoint a new prime minister. He has already delayed this process by declining Gabriel Attal’s resignation, asking him to stay in office for now.

Typically, the French president appoints a prime minister from the largest bloc in parliament. But it is unclear from which party within the NFP this will be. Mélenchon’s party won the most seats within the NFP, but Macron’s allies have repeatedly refused to work with France Unbowed, saying it is just as extreme – and therefore as unfit to govern – as the RN.

In order to reach the majority needed to pass laws, the NFP will likely have to enter into alliances with Ensemble – as two coalitions enter an even larger coalition, straddling vast ideological ground. Finding common ground will be a fraught task, meaning gridlock is likely. Without a clear majority, a minority government faces the risk of no-confidence votes as soon as this month, which could lead to several governments replacing each other.

One way out could be a “technocratic” government, which would involve Macron appointing ministers with no party affiliation to manage day-to-day matters. But these can come to seem undemocratic and can further fan the flames of populism. Just look at Italy: after the premiership of Mario Draghi, the technocrat par excellence, the country elected its most far-right government since Benito Mussolini. While France avoided a far-right government for now, the RN threat is likely to remain strong.

Israeli and US officials showed optimism last week around a ceasefire-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, as the Palestinian militant group expressed willingness to compromise on a key sticking point. But an agreement may still be elusive despite the new momentum.

A statement by the Israeli prime minister’s office on Sunday, however, cast doubt on whether the deal would progress, laying out several “principles” Israel is not prepared to abandon, including resumed fighting in Gaza “until all of objectives of the war have been achieved.”

Israel launched its war on Gaza nine months ago, in response to Hamas’ October 7 attack that killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 others hostage, according to Israeli authorities. The war has left swathes of the enclave unrecognizable, displaced almost the entire population and killed more than 38,000 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry there. Israel had said it wouldn’t end the war until all hostages are freed and Hamas is eliminated.

Some experts say Netanyahu’s statement on Sunday suggests the deal may face new hurdles.

“I don’t think that Hamas will give in to additional Israeli demands,” such as staying on the Philadelphi Corridor, Baskin said, referring to the 14-kilometer (about 8.7-mile) buffer zone on the Egypt-Gaza border. Hamas is also unlikely to agree to an Israeli demand of “a veto on the selection of Palestinian prisoners to be released.”

Here’s what we know about where the talks stand.

What is the deal that is on the table?

US President Joe Biden in May laid out a three-phase proposal that he said Israel had submitted, as he declared “it’s time for this war to end.”

The first phase of the potential agreement would last six weeks and include the “withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza” as well as the “release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.” Phase 2 would allow for the “exchange for the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers.” In Phase 3, the president said, a “major reconstruction plan for Gaza would commence and any final remains of hostages who’ve been killed will be returned to their families.”

What is Hamas’ position?

Hamas has long demanded that Israel agree to a permanent ceasefire before signing any deal, which Israel has so far refused.

This means, in the first phase, mediators would guarantee a temporary truce, the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli troops. Indirect talks would continue towards implementing the second phase of the agreement.

The demand for a prior commitment to a permanent ceasefire had been a key sticking point for Israel, as Netanyahu insisted his country would not end the war until Hamas is defeated – a goal critics deem too ambitious to achieve.

What is Netanyahu’s position?

Netanyahu on Thursday authorized his negotiators to enter into detailed talks in a bid to broker a deal, an Israeli official and a source familiar with the negotiations said, signaling progress after weeks of deadlock.

In a statement Sunday, however, Netanyahu’s office published a list of principles that it said will not be infringed upon by the plan agreed to by Israel and Biden. The prime minister’s “steadfast position” against calls to halt Israeli military action in the southern Gaza city of Rafah is what brought Hamas to the negotiating table, the statement said.

The principles include a resumption of the war until “all of objectives of the war have been achieved” and the prevention of “smuggling of weapons to Hamas from Egypt to the Gaza border.”

Israel began a ground operation in Rafah on May 7, crossing the Philadelphi Corridor and seizing the Palestinian side of the border with Egypt. Israel has long accused Hamas of using the Philadelphi corridor to smuggle weapons from Egypt.

Netanyahu also said there will be “no return of thousands of armed terrorists to the northern Gaza Strip,” the statement said.

What is the White House saying?

Asked if the administration believes that Netanyahu is playing politics and could try to sabotage the deal, the official said the deal is structured in a way that “fully protects Israel’s interests.”

The developments came after the US proposed new language to help bridge gaps in discussions for a deal, and as Biden scrambled for political survival after floundering in a presidential debate against his predecessor Donald Trump. Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict has been a key issue for voters.

Are the two sides closer to a deal?

Optimism that a deal may be reached has possibly been dampened by Netanyahu’s demands on Sunday.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized the prime minister, calling his statement “provocative.”

“What is it good for? We are at a critical moment in the negotiations, the lives of the abductees depend on it,” Lapid wrote Sunday on X. “Why issue such provocative messages? How does it contribute to the process?”

Baskin, the former negotiator, said that added US pressure is unlikely to sway the Israeli prime minister, who is battling for political survival amid anti-government protests demanding his resignation. Netanyahu is also bound by the demands of right-wing ministers in his coalition who are opposed to any compromise with Hamas.

US pressure is “strongly diminished now” after Biden’s debate against Trump, Baskin said. Biden’s weak debate performance only led more Democrats to express doubts that he can beat his opponent in the upcoming election.