Historic victory for the far right in the first round of the French legislative elections

Asuncion, IP Agency.- The far-right National Rally (RN) party won the first round of France’s early legislative elections on Sunday 30 June. Marine Le Pen and her allies won 33% of the vote, following President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly and call early elections.

For the second round, which will take place on Sunday, July 7, he is asking the French people to give him an absolute majority to govern without having to form alliances with other parties. To achieve this, he would need to elect at least 289 deputies out of the 577 that exist.

The left-wing coalition, the so-called New Popular Front, which includes a diverse spectrum of parties such as the New Anticapitalist Party, the social democrats, the environmentalists and France Insoumise, won 28% of the vote.

The big loser on election night was President Emmanuel Macron, whose centre-right bloc finished third with around 22% of the vote.

In this vote, marked by a sharp increase in turnout, the conservative party Les Républicains (LR), which did not form an alliance with RN, came in at around 10%.

Macron’s centre-right alliance and left-wing coalition begin a decisive week of campaigning in France on Monday to prevent the rise of a new far-right government in the European Union.

But if the National Rally fails to secure an absolute majority, France might face a period of institutional deadlock with three blocs in Parliament: the left, the centre-right and the far right. And with no possibility of calling new elections for another year.