France election: Exit poll predicts shock win for left-wing alliance

ITV News Europe Editor James Mates reports live from Paris after news of the shock exit polls

Exit polls have predicted that France's left-wing alliance has won the most parliamentary seats to beat a surging far-right, but the shape of the future government remained uncertain after no group looked set to reach a majority.

The surprise projections put President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance in second and Marine Le Pen’s far-right in third.

The lack of majority for any single alliance plunged France into political and economic turmoil after polls closed on Sunday evening.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said he will resign on Monday as exit polls showed the Left-wing New Popular Front taking the biggest share of the seats.

Mr Attal is part of the Ensemble bloc, which is projected to have come in second place.

Final results are not expected until early Monday in the highly volatile snap election, which was called just four weeks ago in a huge gamble for Macron.

The deeply unpopular president lost control of parliament, according to the projections. The far right drastically increased the number of seats it holds in parliament but fell far short of expectations.

France’s national assembly has 577 seats, with 289 seats needed for an absolute majority.

The country now faces the prospect of weeks of political machinations to determine who will be prime minister and lead the National Assembly. And Macron faces the prospect of leading the country alongside a prime minister opposed to most of his domestic policies.

Sunday’s vote determines which party controls the National Assembly and who will be prime minister. If support is further eroded for Macron’s weak centrist majority, he will be forced to share power with parties opposed to most of his pro-business, pro-European Union policies.

Racism and antisemitism have marred the electoral campaign, along with Russian cybercampaigns, and more than 50 candidates reported being physically attacked - highly unusual for France. The government is deploying 30,000 police on voting day.

The heightened tensions come while France is celebrating a very special summer: Paris is about to host exceptionally ambitious Olympic Games, the national soccer team reached the semifinal of the Euro 2024 championship, and the Tour de France is racing around the country alongside the Olympic torch.

The National Rally party of Marine Le Pen greatly increased the number of seats it holds, but fell far short of its hopes of securing an absolute majority that would have given France its first far-right government since World War II.

In Paris’ Stalingrad square, supporters on the left cheered and applauded as projections showing the alliance ahead flashed up on a giant screen. Cries of joy also rang out in Republique plaza in eastern Paris, with people spontaneously hugging strangers and several minutes of nonstop applause after the projections landed.

Jordan Bardella, Le Pen's 28-year-old protégé who'd been hoping to become prime minister, rued that the outcome of the vote “throws France into the arms of the extreme left.”

The most prominent of the leftist coalition's leaders, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, urged Macron to invite the New Popular Front coalition to form a government. The alliance, he said, “is ready to govern."

The projections, if confirmed by official counts, will spell intense uncertainty for a pillar of the European Union, with no clarity about who might become prime minister — and the prospect that Macron will be forced to govern alongside someone opposed to most of his domestic policies

The polling projections are based on the actual vote count in select constituencies.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said he would resign but also that he would remain on an interim basis during the Olympics or for as long as needed, given that there could be weeks of negotiations to choose a new premier.

In a statement from his office, Macron indicated that he wouldn’t be rushed into inviting a potential prime minister to form a government. It said he was watching as results come in and would wait for the new National Assembly to take shape before taking “the necessary decisions,” all while respecting “the sovereign choice of the French.”

A hung parliament with no single bloc coming close to getting the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority in the National Assembly, the more powerful of France’s two legislative chambers, would be unknown territory for modern France. Unlike other countries in Europe that are more accustomed to coalition governments, France doesn’t have a tradition of lawmakers from rival political camps coming together to form a majority.

Have you heard our new podcast Talking Politics? Every day in the run-up to the election Tom, Robert and Anushka dig into the biggest issues dominating the political agenda…