PARIS –
Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party secured a historic victory in the first round of France’s parliamentary elections on Sunday, exit polls showed. However, the final outcome will depend on days of horse-trading before next week’s second round.
The RN is expected to win around 34% of the vote, according to exit polls by Ipsos, Ifop, OpinionWay and Elabe. This is a major setback for President Emmanuel Macron, who called early elections after his candidate was defeated by the RN in the European Parliament elections earlier this month.
The RN’s share of the vote was well ahead of its left-wing and centrist rivals, including Macron’s Together alliance, which saw the bloc gain 20.5% to 23%.
