France: A far right general election win threatens to leave political vacuum in Europe

If the polls are correct, the party of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella could be heading for a big win, taking the French government further to the right than at any time since the Vichy government of the Second World War, ITV News Europe Editor James Mates reports

In France, too, there was a big political debate on Thursday night, less talked about than the one in Atlanta, but just as fractious and almost as important. The big difference was the age profile.

Far from the geriatric jousting in the US, in Paris a 28-year-old sparred with a 35-year-old for the right to be France's next prime minister – Jordan Bardella, the protégé of Marine Le Pen taking on current Prime Minister Gabriel Attal – promoted out of the blue by President Macron just five short months ago.

If the polls are right it will be Bardella, a man with almost zero political experience, leading the government in the Assemblée Nationale by the summer.

Attal and the President's Renaissance Party may be lucky to hold onto third place.

How has it come to this, just two years after Macron decisively beat Le Pen in the Presidential election? In the leafy towns and suburbs around Marseilles, where Le Pen's Rassemblement Nationale scored comfortably over 50% in the recent European elections the answer is crime and immigration. Or, to be more precise, the fear of crime and immigration.

Add in a host of economic complaints and you have a country apparently ready to abandon the centre and head further to the right than at any time since the Vichy government of World War Two.

The French voting system in which the top two candidates in a constituency face a head-to-head run off a week later, used to work to exclude extremist parties - defeated candidates would set aside their differences and swing behind whichever centrist was left standing. But Le Pen's National Rally may be too big for that to work anymore.

In fact, such is the unpopularity of Macron that the tactical voting in round two may be used against him rather than Le Pen.

The only real question seems to be whether Bardella will win big enough to secure an overall majority, or will need allies to form a government.

Either way President Macron could end up a lame-duck for three long years, leaving a political vacuum in the heart of Europe at what could hardly be a more perilous moment.

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