First round French election results: Far Right wins

The exit polls show that the far-right RN won about 34% of the votes, while President Macron’s centrist coalition fell to third place with 20.3%.

By Al Jazeera

Jul 01, 2024 06 :35 AM

France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party has won a resounding victory in the first round of the country’s snap parliamentary elections .

According to pollsters IFOP and Ipsos as well as OpinionWay, Marine Le Pen’s RN won about 34 percent. The New Popular Front coalition (NFP), a left-wing alliance, was expected to win about 29 percent of the vote. President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble coalition would get about 20 percent.

The results put RN in a situation where it could start to think about forming a new government. However, the other forces in the political spectrum have indicated that they would work together to stop the far-right group during the second round of voting on July 7.

Macron shocked the country when he called the snap elections after the RN surged at the European Parliament Elections last month. He gambled that the antiimmigration party, with its historical links to antisemitism, would not repeat this success at the national levels.

Supporters of Le Pen sang La Marseillaise and waved French flags in the Henin-Beaumont constituency, which is located in northern France.

She told the crowd that they were elated by the French’s willingness to put an end to a power that was corrosive and contemptible.

Le Pen’s protégé and candidate for Prime Minister, Jordan Bardella pointed out that this second round will be the “most important in the history” of the French Fifth Republic.

He claimed that Macron’s Party has been wiped-out and accused the extreme left of creating a “existential crises” which represents “a real threat to France and the French people as a whole”.

In an estimate for BFM TV, pollster Elabe estimated that RN and allies would win 260 to 310 seats in parliament in the second round of voting on 7 July. Ipsos predicted 230-280 for RN in a survey for France TV.

Le Pen and Bardella both stated that their parties are chasing an absolute majorit – 289 seats total – at the National Assembly – France’s lower chamber of parliament.

Macron calls for “broad democratic alliance”

Chances of the RN forming a coalition government and winning power depend on how its rivals deal with each other in the next few days. In the past, the centre-right and center-left parties worked together to keep far-right parties from power.

Macron called for “a broad” democratic alliance to fight the extreme right.

In a press release, he stated that “Faced With National Rally it is time for a wide, clearly democratic, and republican coalition for the second round.”

He said that the large turnout of the first round was a sign of the “importance of this vote to all our compatriots, and the desire for clarity in the political situation”.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal warned the far right is at the “gates of power” and that “no votes should go to National Rally”.

Jean-Luc Melenchon of the New Popular Front (NPF), a left-wing party, announced that he would pull candidates who finished third in the first-round of parliamentary election to ensure a two-horse race to defeat as many RN candidates on the far-right in the next vote.

In the event that no candidate achieves 50 percent in the first round of voting, all candidates with 12,5 percent or more registered voters qualify automatically for the second round. The constituency is won by the candidate who wins the majority of votes in the run-off.

Melenchon said that “in line with our principles, and our positions in previous elections, the National Rally will never be able to win,” he added.

Laurent Berger (former secretary-general of French Democratic Confederation of Labour, and current president of European Trade Union Confederation) called for a “blockade”, in a post at X.

Berger stated that “this evening, our democratic values and republican values will be at stake as we face the National Rally near the threshold of government.”

“In the face danger… it is imperative to stop the extreme right”.

Attendance at the event was high

Ipsos estimated that the turnout in Sunday’s elections at 8pm (18:00 GMT), when the polls closed, would have been 65.5 percent. This is the highest level since 1997.

Le Pen, who took over the leadership of her father Jean-Marie Le Pen after he died in 2007, has brought the RN closer to power now than ever before.

Rim-Sarah Alouane is an academic at University Toulouse-Capitole. She says that Le Pen has “done plastic surgery on her party”.

Alouane said to Al Jazeera: “Is it the same rotten party that is xenophobic and anti-Muslim? We know what the extreme right stands for.”

She said that the results of the vote also represented a rejection to Macron’s policy, as the president was seen as “haughty”, and pandering the wealthy.

Alouane: “I personally know of cases where people voted far right due to the policies of Macron, particularly at an economic level.”

Protests were held in Paris, Lyon and Nantes, among other cities.

A few thousand anti RN protesters gathered on Place de la Republique in Paris, Sunday night.

Najiya Khaldi, a 33 year old teacher, expressed “disgust and sadness” over the strong RN results.

She said, “I’m not used to protesting.” “I came here to feel less alone, I think.”

If the RN manages to achieve an absolute majority in second round, this would lead to a tense “cohabitation”, where the president comes from a party other than the majority, with Macron who has promised to serve his term until the year 2027.

A different outcome would be protracted negotiations in order to form a government that is sustainable.

Eurasia Group, a risk analysis firm, said that the RN was “likely” now to fall short of a majority. The French National Assembly will be blocked for at least 12 months and, at best, a ‘national-unity’ government with limited ability to govern.

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Al Jazeera News Agency