French President Emmanuel Macron loses parliamentary majority after defections

French President Emmanuel Macron lost his absolute parliamentary majority on Tuesday after several of his MPs defected to create a new political group.

Seven of Macron's La Republique En Marche (LREM) MPs have joined the new group called "Ecology, Democracy, Solidarity".

The move leaves the centrist LREM party with 288 lawmakers out of a total of 577 just one short of an absolute majority. Yet LREM and its centrist allies, including 46 lawmakers from the MoDem party, remain largely dominant at the National Assembly which has the final say in the law-making process.

A new independent group was created Tuesday at the National Assembly after seven lawmakers left Macron's LREM.

The move echoes tensions over the political direction Macron's young party, born from the 2017 presidential race, should follow. It comes at an inconvenient time for Macron, who is struggling to revive the economy after two months of lockdown.

(With inputs from agencies)