Emmanuel Macron's government survived two no-confidence votes brought by opposition lawmakers on Monday, and they were over highly unpopular pension reforms.

Monday's poll in the National Assembly was triggered when the head of state raised the retirement age to 64 from 62 without a parliamentary vote.

A small group called Liot filed a no-confidence motion. It was supported by 278 members of the National Assembly. However, it fell short by 9 votes. This is an unexpectedly close result. Marine Le Pen's National Rally Party filed a separate motion, but it received only 94 votes. This is because opposition parties are still wary of joining forces with the far-right party.

The no-confidence motions were the result of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne triggering the 49.3 clauses of the French constitution last week, passing the draft law without a parliamentary vote. Now that the motions have failed, the pensions reform raising the retirement age by two years to 64 can be adopted and the Borne government will remain in place.

Soon after the vote, small groups of protesters gathered around parliament and clashed with police.

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