Far right 'at gates of power', French PM warns as Le Pen's party leads election first round
The French prime minister has warned the far right are "at the gates of power" as Marine Le Pen's National Rally party has a strong lead in first-round legislative elections.
"Never, in the history of our democracy, has the National Assembly risked, as it did this evening, being dominated by the extreme right," Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on Sunday evening.
The country's President Emmanuel Macron called the surprise elections just three weeks ago and is urging voters to rally against the far right.
Projections by polling agencies suggest the National Rally stands a good chance of winning a majority in the lower house of parliament for the first time with an estimated 33% of the first-round vote. That's nearly double their 18% in the first round in 2022.
The election is being held three years earlier than it needed to be, and three weeks after Macron’s Renaissance party was beat by the far-right National Rally (RN), the party of Marine Le Pen, in the European Parliament elections.
Minutes after the humiliating defeat, in an apparent attempt to call voters’ bluff, Macron said he could not ignore the message sent by voters and took the “serious, heavy” decision to call a snap election – France’s first since 1997.
Whatever the outcome, Macron has pledged to remain in post until France’s next presidential election in 2027.
The second round of voting is on July 7.
Most voters will choose one of three blocs: the RN-led far-right alliance; the New Popular Front (NFP), a recently formed left-wing coalition; and Macron’s centrist Ensemble.
The RN bloc is headed by Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old party leader handpicked by Le Pen, who has striven to polish the image of a party historically ridden with racism and antisemitism that proliferated under the decades-long leadership of her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
On the left, a previously fractious cluster of parties have recently banded together to form the New Popular Front – a coalition meant to resurrect the original Popular Front that prevented fascists from gaining power in 1936.
The broad alliance comprises more radical figures like Jean-Luc Melenchon, three-time presidential candidate and leader of the France Unbowed party, as well as moderate leaders like Place Publique’s Raphael Glucksmann.
Meanwhile, outgoing French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal – who was only appointed to his post by Macron in January – is representing Macron’s centrist Ensemble alliance. Attal was reportedly among the last of Macron’s inner circle to learn that a snap election was imminent.
Polls closed at 8pm. local time (9pm GMT) on Sunday, with the full results expected later on Monday.
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