Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) won the first round of legislative elections on Sunday, leaving incumbent president Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance lagging in third behind the left, projections by polling groups said.
The projections gave the RN 34% of the vote, compared to 29.1% for the left-wing New Popular Front alliance, and just 22% for Macron’s centrist camp.
Many French voters are frustrated about inflation and other economic concerns, as well as Macron’s leadership, seen as arrogant and out-of-touch with their lives. The National Rally party has tapped that discontent, notably via online platforms such as TikTok.
Le Pen, the daughter of the party’s racist and anti-Semitic father Jean-Marie, said Macron’s alliance was ‘almost wiped out’ during the first round of voting.
The first round of this year’s election, called by Macron after a devastating loss in the European Parliament elections earlier this month, saw record levels of turnout.
Polls suggested 67.5% of people votes in the national election, the highest participation in a regular format legislative election in France since 1981. The final turnout in 2022, the last time national elections were held in the nation, was just 47.5%.
Despite the win, it is still not currently clear whether Le Pen’s party would win an absolute majority of seats in the new National Assembly lower house in the July 7 second round and claim the post of prime minister.
The second round will see run-off votes take place in seats where there was no absolute majority, allowing the final shape of the National Assembly to form.
The vote could give 28-year-old RN party chief Jordan Bardella, a protege of its longtime leader Marine Le Pen, the chance to form a government, making it the first time the far-right takes the reins of power in France since the Nazi occupation during WWII.
The last far-right leaders of France were Philippe Pétai and his prime minister, Pierre Laval, who headed the Vichy regime that collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.
Bardella has previously said he would only form a government if the RN wins an absolute majority in the elections, but the party has said that the far-right wunderkind would become the country’s prime minister, while Macron would stay president until his term expires in 2027 in an awkward power-sharing arrangement called ‘cohabitation’ in France.
Gabriel Attal, France’s current prime minister, said tonight that the ‘extreme right is on the verge of power’, adding:
‘Not a single vote should go to the National Rally in such circumstances. France deserves that we do not hesitate. Never.’
Speaking from her constituency of Hénin-Beaumont, in northern France, where she was elected to parliament without the need for a second round, Le Pen said she said the RN was finally preparing for power for the first time in its history.
‘In democracy, nothing is healthier than political change,’ said Ms Le Pen. ‘We need an absolute majority for Jordan Bardella to be appointed prime minister by Emmanuel Macron.
‘I call on you to join the coalition of freedom, security and unity. No French person will lose rights – hope is reborn!’
Despite his humiliating third-place finish in the first round of voting, Macron called for a broad coalition to come together to stop the RN next weekend.
He said: ‘Faced with the National Rally, the time has come for a large, clearly democratic and Republican rally for the second round.’
Bardella hit back, telling voters that he would be the ‘protector’ of their rights and freedoms.
‘Next Sunday, victory is possible and the alternative is possible’, he added.
At time of publication, just 176 of the 577 constituencies in France have declared definitive results. While Rn has won over a hundred of them, very few have declared as wins of absolute majority, meaning they will run off to the second round.
Ipsos, the polling company, previously estimated that nearly half of France’s constituencies will go to three-way runoffs, making a prediction of the final results incredibly difficult.
Senior figures in the New Popular Front, the left-wing coalition that came second in the first round, have pledged to pull out of any races where NFP candidates came third and RN candidates came first, in order to allow citizens to vote out the far-right.
Ensemble, the coalition that Macron leads, has done the same, local media reported.
More to follow.