France Election 2024 results: Marine Le Pen's far-right is winning, claim exit polls

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) party won the first round of France's parliamentary elections on Sunday, exit polls showed, but the final result will depend on days of horse-trading before next week's run-off.

The RN was seen winning around 34 per cent of the vote, exit polls from Ipsos, Ifop, OpinionWay and Elabe showed.

That was ahead of leftist and centrist rivals, including President Emmanuel Macron's Together alliance, whose bloc was seen winning 20.5 per cent-23 per cent. The New Popular Front, a hastily assembled left-wing coalition, was projected to win around 29 per cent of the vote, the exit polls showed.

The exit polls were in line with opinion polls ahead of the election, but provided little clarity on whether once next Sunday's second round is concluded the anti-immigrant, eurosceptic RN will be able to form a government to "cohabit" with the pro-EU Macron.

The RN was seen winning the most seats in the National Assembly, but only one of the pollsters - Elabe - had the party winning an absolute majority of 289 seats in the July 7 run-off.

The final result will depend on how parties decide to join forces in each of France's 577 constituencies for the second round.

In the past, centre-right and centre-left parties have teamed up to keep the RN from power, but that dynamic, called the "republican front" in France, is less certain than ever.

In a written statement to the press, Macron called on voters to rally behind candidates who are "clearly republican and democratic", which, based on his recent declarations, would exclude candidates from the RN and from the hard-left France Unbowed party.

The president's decision to call snap elections plunged his country into political uncertainty, sent shockwaves around Europe and prompted a sell-off of French assets on financial markets. European markets have been rattled since President Emmanuel Macron's shock decision on June 9 to call a snap election. The prospect of a far-right, or leftwing win has unsettled investors, as both have pledged big spending increases, which could undermine France's already fragile finances.

FAQs:

Q1. Who is France's President?
A1. France's President is Emmanuel Macron.

Q2. How many constituencies do France has?
A2. The final result will depend on how parties decide to join forces in each of France's 577 constituencies for the second round.