Socialist leader Benoit Hamon became prime minister. Hamon and Deputy Prime Minister Anne Hidalgo provided stimulus checks to compensate for COVID lockdowns, increased the minimum wage, began profit-sharing schemes in major corporations, and transfered investments from fossil fuels to nuclear energy. 

During the pandemic, the RN replaced Fillon's RPR as the main right-to-centre party in France, just like the RPR had displaced the MRP in 2004 due to another corruption scandal. Despite this realignment, the French center-right remains strong because of RN's association with the negative legacy of Jacques Dutroux. 

By the time of the 2024 French election, Hamon was popular with the French upper and middle classes, while the working class mostly resented him due to his support for immigration and the EU¹. However, the SFIO ran on its achievements in office and antifascism, relentlessly tying Le Pen and her party to Dutroux and emphasizing the economic recovery under Hamon. 

Consequently, the SFIO was returned to power, albeit with a reduced plurality, the RPR lost ground to the RN, and the LFI surged. The miscellaneous right, MoDem, EE–LV, and PCF won smaller amounts of seats. In the end, the AfD victory in the 2022 German elections failed to help Le Pen. 

**Footnote**

- ¹ = Dirigisme and European integration were two French fascist policies that continued after WWII. 

In 2020, Penelopegate led to French Prime Minister François Fillon losing reelection, and the SFIO winning the general elections by a landslide, with 226 seats.