France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party and its allies have reached 33% of the national popular vote in the first round of parliamentary elections, the interior ministry said, while the left-wing New Popular Front came in second with 28%.
President Emmanual Macron’s Ensemble centrist alliance won just 20% of the vote.
Mr Macron will convene a meeting of his ministers following the legislative elections.
Speaking after the exit polls, Marine Le Pen called on voters to give RN an absolute majority in the second round of parliamentary elections so party chief Jordan Bardella can become premier.
“Nothing is won and the second round is decisive,” she told supporters. “We need an absolute majority so that Jordan Bardella is in eight days named prime minister by (President) Emmanuel Macron.”
We need your consent to load this comcast-player contentWe use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal urged voters not to give the far right “a single vote” in the second round of voting.
“The far right is at the gates of power,” Mr Attal said, warning that the party risked winning an absolute majority.
Read more:
What happens next in French elections?
“Our objective is clear: to prevent the RN from getting elected in the second round. Not a single vote must go to the National Rally,” he added.
Dozens of protesters gathered in Paris following the initial results and set off flares as they marched through the city’s streets.
Voter participation was high compared with previous parliamentary elections, illustrating the political fervour Mr Macron aroused with his stunning decision to call a parliamentary vote after the RN trounced his party in European Parliament elections earlier this month.
A week of political bargaining now lies ahead.
Under the French system, there could be 300 constituencies where there is a three-way contest.
Candidates could pull out in order to leave the field open for another candidate to defeat the National Rally contestant.
But not everyone will agree to that since the largest party in the left-wing alliance is France Unbowed, a far-left party that Mr Macron and many centrist voters regard as extreme, and as dangerous to France as the extreme right.
The parties have 48 hours to decide on their strategy.
