The far-right National Rally party (RN, for the French acronym of Rassemblement National) achieved a historic victory in the first round of the parliamentary elections that were held this Sunday in France, according to several exit polls.
According to polls released by France Télévisions and Radio France after the polls closed, RN, led by Marine Le Pen, won nearly 34% of the vote.
The leftist coalition New Popular Front reached 29% of the votes.
Once the first results were known, Le Pen addressed her supporters who were celebrating the election result.
“Democracy has spoken and the French have put RN and its allies on top, practically annihilating Macron’s camp,” he said.
He added that people clearly want to “turn the page after seven years of disdainful and corrosive government” and asked them to vote for RN again next Sunday in the second round.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who called the parliamentary election last month in a surprise move following the European election results that also favoured RN, said a front had to be created to defeat the far right.
“We must vote for republican and democratic candidates,” he added, referring to the second round.
President Macron also applauded the massive turnout in this Sunday’s elections, which according to several reports is the highest in the last 20 years.
The French parliamentary elections, which will define much of the country’s domestic politics, have two rounds: the first, which gave the results in favour of RN, and the second, which will take place next Sunday, which will end up defining the French political landscape.
Macron reiterated that whatever the outcome of the election, he will not resign from his post as president, whose term ends in 2027.
A partial triumph
The National Group had never before won the first round of a parliamentary election in the country.
But this historic victory does not mean that the fight is over.
These elections will elect the 577 deputies of the National Assembly, who will hold office for 5 years.
To elect these deputies, the country is divided into 577 constituencies and in each one one is chosen.
For a candidate to win in his or her constituency in the first round, he or she must obtain more than 50% of the votes.
If no candidate succeeds, the election goes to a second round in which the two who received the most votes in the first round and all the candidates who obtained a vote of more than 12.5% compete.
In other words, there may be constituencies in which there are more than two candidates competing in the second round.
According to Paul Kirby, BBC Europe digital editor, “each constituency has its own political history.”
“RN may win some of them tonight and be ahead in most others“
“However, the left alliance also did very well, and is made up of four different parties that have divided the constituencies between them”
“What happens tonight and in the next few days is what counts,” Kirby concluded.
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