France’s left-wing alliance is set to emerge as the largest bloc in the second and final round of the parliamentary election, early projections show. The leftist New Popular Front is being followed by President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble alliance, pushing Marine Le Pen’s National Rally to the third spot.
New Popular Front, a coalition of leftist and Communist parties, is expected to win 172 to 192 seats, according to exit polls on Sunday evening. President Macron’s pro-EU alliance is set to get between 150 and 180 seats, ahead of the right-wing National Rally, which is set to secure between 120 and 150 seats.
If exit polls prove correct, no party or bloc may be able to get an absolute majority of 289 seats in the 650-member parliament, resulting in a hung parliament, French media reports indicate.
The French TV channel Euronews reported the exit polls released on Sunday evening:
France’s anti-far right forces have pushed Marine Le Pen’s National Rally from first to third place in France’s legislative assembly elections second round, according to poll estimates following the close of voting.The left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front (NFP), is expected to have between 172 and 192 seats, the IPSOS poll found. Meanwhile, the centrist liberal democrats of President Emmanuel Macron are to reach between 150 and 170 seats, pollsters say, while the centre-right Republicans (LR) could get between 57 and 67 parliamentary seats.National Rally, the far-right party led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, is predicted to garner between only 132-152 seats, giving it likely third place, trailing recent Ipsos projections that Le Pen and her allies from the Republicans party might win between 230 and 280 seats.
In the first round of the polls held on July 1, National Rally — led by its new leader, 28-year-old Jordan Bardella — emerged as the largest party, winning over 33 percent of the vote and close to winning a majority in France’s lower house National Assembly.
President Macron called the snap elections after his party was trounced by the National Rally in the recent European Union election.
Business owners boarded up their shops in upscale areas Paris to prevent looting and arson by leftist and migrant protesters triggered by the election results.
“Shops on central Parisian streets like the Champs Elysees began boarding up their facades ahead of the results, DW TV reported Sunday evening as polls closed. “Some retailers in the more upmarket streets of central Paris had kept barricades up all week between the two rounds of voting, fearing potential protests or vandalism in the aftermath of the results following a fractious snap election campaign.”
Police has been mobilized to protect the French parliament from potential angry leftist mobs.
“Police vans are now parked outside France’s National Assembly building in Paris as the second round enters its final stages,” Euronews reported Sunday evening. “Politicians have warned of potential violence tonight once the results come out and have urged citizens to take necessary precautions.”
There are reports of celebrations over National Rally’s poor showing in the election.
“People gathered at the Place de la République in Paris and chanted, “Everyone hates fachos (fascists),” following the results of the snap legislative elections,” France24 reported.
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