Far-right National Rally leads France's snap poll, left comes second ahead of Macron's camp

"Not a single vote must go to the Rassemblement National," announced Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. In the event of a three-way tie, if the New Popular FRont comes third, "we will withdraw our candidacy", declared Jean-Luc Mélenchon, while Marine Le Pen called for an absolute majority to send Jordan Bardella to Matignon. © FMM graphics studio

France’s high-stakes parliamentary elections propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong but not decisive lead in the first-round vote on Sunday, said pollster Ipsos Talan, dealing another slap to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. The leftist union New Popular Front was projected to come in second place while Macron's centrist alliance languished in third. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.

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• Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party was leading in France’s snap parliamentary elections on Sunday with 34% of votes, according to pollster Ipsos Talan. Le Pen called on voters to give the National Rally an “absolute majority” at parliament "so that Jordan Bardella can be appointed prime minister in eight days". 
• The leftist union New Popular Front was projected to come in second place with 28.5% of votes. France’s hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said that President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance had suffered a “heavy and undisputable” defeat in the polls and urged French people to vote against the far-right.
• Macron's centrist Ensemble won just 20.3% of votes. The beleaguered president has urged voters to block the far right in the decisive second-round legislative elections. 
• French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on Sunday that not one single vote should go to the far-right National Rally party during next week's second round of France's parliamentary elections, after the latter was poised to win the first round.
• Macron dissolved parliament on June 9 and called snap legislative elections for June 30 and July 7 after the far-right National Rally trounced his centrist alliance in the European elections.
• Elections for the 577 seats in the lower house National Assembly are a two-round process. The shape of the new parliament will become clear after the second round on July 7.
• The turnout rate in mainland France was estimated at 65.5%, according to pollster Ipsos Talan, significantly higher than the 47.5% turnout recorded in 2022.

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