Paris: Snap polls to the 577-member French National Assembly on June 30 witnessed a heavy turnout in the first round, with Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) winning the first round, exit polls showed.
However, the final result will depend on days of horse-trading before the July 7 run-off, Reuters reported. With 34 per cent of the votes, RN -- having Jordan Bardella as its PM face -- was ahead of leftist and centrist rivals, including President Emmanuel Macron's Together alliance, whose bloc was seen winning 20.5 per cent to 23 per cent.
Exulting in the "wipe-out" of the Macron camp, Le-Pen said: "Democracy has spoken and the French have put the RN and its allies at the top, practically wiping out the Macron camp," she said, adding that people clearly want to "turn the page after seven years of scornful and corrosive rule".
However, Macron has announced that even if his party loses, he will not quit as President before 2027 when his term ends. In a statement, he called for a "broad" alliance against the far right in the second round, which will see run-off votes where there was no outright winner in the first round.
While 289 seats are required to win a majority, the French political system is slightly complex and will go to a second round, in which candidates, whose support did not reach 12.5 per cent of all locally registered voters, are eliminated. Only those who secure 50 per cent of the vote with a turnout of at least one-fourth of the local electorate win automatically in the first round.
The elections - which were not due till 2027 - were called in a surprise announcement by Macron on June 9 after the National Rally party decisively defeated his alliance in the European Parliament elections.
