5 Takeaways From France’s Snap Election

France’s left-wing parties surged unexpectedly in nationwide legislative elections on Sunday, denying the nationalist, anti-immigration National Rally party a majority in the lower house of Parliament.

But no party appeared on track to secure an absolute majority, leaving one of Europe’s largest countries headed for gridlock or political instability.

The results were compiled by The New York Times using data from the Interior Ministry, and they confirmed earlier projections showing that no single party or bloc would win a majority.

Here are five takeaways from the election.

Big Surprise No. 1

There were two big surprises as France voted for a new Parliament in snap elections, neither one foreseen by pundits, pollsters or prognosticators.

The biggest was the left’s triumph: Its coalition secured 178 seats and emerged as the country’s leading political bloc. It was the French left’s most surprising victory since François Mitterrand brought it back from its postwar wilderness, winning the presidency as a Socialist in 1981.

President Emmanuel Macron, backed by much of France’s commentariat, has spent the last seven years proclaiming the left — and especially the Socialists — dead, and its more radical fringes like France Unbowed as dangerous troublemakers. Both won big Sunday.