Election Results in France
The National Rally party secured a significant victory in the initial round of voting for the French National Assembly, marking a pivotal moment for their nationalist and anti-immigrant agenda. Early projections revealed a commanding lead for the party, with an estimated 34% of the vote. This places them well ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance party and its allies, who garnered about 21%.
While these results do not definitively determine the parliamentary seats each party will attain, it is highly probable that the National Rally will emerge as the dominant force in the lower house, though not necessarily with an outright majority. The next round of the election, scheduled for July 7, will see a runoff between the leading parties in each constituency.
A coalition of left-wing parties, known as the New Popular Front, consisting of a spectrum from moderate socialists to the far-left France Unbowed, achieved approximately 29% of the vote according to the projections. The voter turnout was notably high, exceeding 65%, underscoring the significance voters placed on this snap election compared to the turnout of 47.51% in the previous parliamentary election in 2022.
For President Macron, the outcome represents a significant setback as he had hoped to avoid a repeat of his party’s resounding defeat to the National Rally in the recent European Parliament election. In response to the projections, Mr. Macron emphasized the need for a broad, democratic, and republican alliance in the second round to counter the National Rally’s momentum.
