French voters divided their legislature among left, centre and far right, with no single political faction getting even close to the majority needed to form a government. The risk of paralysis loomed Monday for the European Union's second-largest economy. Each party would need 289 seats absolute majority in a 577 seat parliament.

President Emmanuel Macron gambled that his decision to call snap elections would give France a “moment of clarification”, but the outcome showed the opposite, less than three weeks before the start of the Paris Olympics thrusts the country on the international stage.