The National Rally leads the first round of French legislative elections | French legislative elections 2024

French voters propelled the far-right National Rally (RN) to the lead in the first round of legislative elections on Sunday.

The RN would garner 33.2% of the vote, according to estimates by Ipsos Talan. The party has a good chance of winning a majority in the lower house of parliament for the first time. The party thus confirms its success in the European elections, which prompted Mr Macron to dissolve parliament three weeks ago and call a snap vote.

The New Popular Front (NFP), a coalition of left-wing parties, would come second with 28.1% of the vote, according to Ipsos Talan.

Finally, Emmanuel Macron’s presidential majority Ensemble would collect 21% of the votes, again according to Ipsos Talan.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has called on voters to give the National Rally a absolute majority in Parliament in a speech delivered shortly after the announcement of the first results estimates. She said a majority would allow the RN to form a new government, with party president Jordan Bardella as prime minister, to work towards RELAUNCH from France.

The French have thus, in an unambiguous vote, demonstrated their desire to turn the page after seven years of contemptuous and corrosive power.

She encouraged her voters to vote in the second round, which will take place on July 7, in order to avoida far left with violent, anti-Semitic and anti-republican tendencies comes to power with Jean-Luc Mélenchon as prime minister.

Mr. Mélenchon, one of the headliners of the NFPsaid in a speech that the coalition represents the only alternativeinviting the French to vote for this group in the second round.

It’s not just about voting against the RN or just blocking it. It’s about voting for another future, respectful of every human person and of living things as a whole.Mr. Mélenchon said.

Unlike the National Rally and the New Popular Front, the Ensemble presidential majority had a disappointing evening. At a press conference, the outgoing Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, invited the French to block the RN in the second round.

Never in our democracy has the National Assembly risked, like this evening, being dominated by the extreme righta dit M. Attal.

Not a single vote should go to the National Rally! he chanted.

A decisive second round

The second round will be decisive, but huge questions remain about how Emmanuel Macron will share power with a prime minister hostile to most of his policies.

The outcome of the two-round elections could have consequences for European financial markets, Western support for Ukraine and how France’s nuclear arsenal and global military strength are managed.

Many French voters are frustrated by inflation and economic concerns, as well as by the leadership of President Emmanuel Macron, whom they see as arrogant and out of touch with their lives.

The RN by Marine Le Pen has also exploited this discontent, notably on online platforms like TikTok, and taken the lead in pre-election opinion polls.

The NFP also poses a challenge to the business-friendly Mr. Macron and his centrist Ensemble pour la République alliance. THE NFP includes French socialists and communists as well as the far-left party La France Insoumise and pledges to repeal a deeply unpopular pension reform law that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, among other economic reforms.

There are 49.5 million registered voters who will choose 577 members of the National Assembly, the influential lower house of the French parliament, in the two-round vote.

The turnout at 5 p.m. in the first round was 59.39%, according to figures from the Interior Ministry, 20 points higher than at the same time in the 2022 legislative elections.

Voting takes place during the traditional first week of France’s summer holidays and requests for postal votes have been at least five times higher than in 2022.

Mr Macron voted in Le Touquet, a seaside town in northern France, with his wife Brigitte. Ms. Le Pen, for her part, voted in her party’s stronghold, in the north of France.

Mr Macron called early elections after his party was defeated in European Parliament elections in early June by the RNwhich has historical links to racism and anti-Semitism and is hostile to France’s Muslim community. RN also has historical ties to Russia.

Mr Macron’s appeal was a bold gamble that French voters who had been content with the European elections would be induced to vote for moderate forces in national elections to prevent the far right from coming to power.

Although Mr. Macron has said he will not resign before his presidential term expires in 2027, a scenario of cohabitation would weaken him at home and on the world stage.

Markets shaken

The results of the first round give an idea of ​​the general sentiment of the voters but not necessarily of the overall composition of the next National Assembly. Predictions are difficult because of the complexity of the electoral system and the fact that parties will work between the two rounds to conclude alliances in some constituencies or to withdraw in others.

In the past, such tactical maneuvers have helped keep far-right candidates out of power. However, support for Ms Le Pen’s party has been widespread.

Mr Bardella, who has no governing experience, says he would use prime ministerial powers to prevent Mr Macron from continuing to supply long-range weapons to Ukraine for the war against Russia.

The RN also questions the right to citizenship of people born in France and wishes to restrict the rights of French citizens who have dual nationality. Opponents say it violates human rights and poses a threat to France’s democratic ideals.

Meanwhile, the promises of huge public spending by the RN and in particular the left-wing coalition have shaken the markets and raised concerns about France’s heavy debt, already criticised by European Union watchdogs.

In New Caledonia, a restive French territory in the Pacific, polling stations closed early due to a curfew that the archipelago’s authorities extended until July 8.

Violence broke out there on May 13, leaving nine people dead after two weeks of unrest, due to the Macron government’s attempts to amend the French Constitution and modify the electoral lists in New Caledonia, which local indigenous people feared. kanak, would further marginalize them. They have long sought to free themselves from France.

Voters in the other French overseas territories of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana and French Polynesia, as well as those who were due to vote at polling stations set up by embassies and consular posts across the Americas, cast their ballots on Saturday.