Huge turnout sees far-right National Rally top the polls in first round of French elections

National Assembly

Today saw the first of two rounds of voting in France, with the second round to come a week from now on 7 July.

LAST UPDATE
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30 Jun

THE FAR-RIGHT NATIONAL Rally party has come out on top in the first round of voting in the French parliamentary elections, earning 34% of the vote, according to projections.

The left alliance New Popular Front came in second place with 28.1%, while Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble group took 20.3%. The conservative Republicans got 10.2%.

Today’s projections represent an unprecedented victory for the far right in a French National Assembly election, though it remains unclear if they will win enough seats to form an outright majority.

The National Rally’s longtime figurehead and policy chief, Marine Le Pen, said: “Democracy has spoken.” 

Supporters of French far right leader Marine Le Pen react after the release of the projections. Alamy Stock Photo

Alamy Stock Photo

“That being said, nothing is decided and the second round will be important,” she told supporters following the announcement of the projections.

“Make sure the people win,” she said to cheers and applause. 

Dimanche, en votant pour nos candidats, vous ferez en sorte que le pays retrouve dans l’unité et la fraternité, l’énergie pour ne faire plus qu’un.

Mes chers compatriotes, ce 30 juin 2024, dans le pays renaît l’espérance. Le 7 juillet, mobilisez-vous pour que le peuple gagne ! pic.twitter.com/uIHnGwNicP

— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) June 30, 2024

Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally (RN), has said of the vote and high turnout: “The response is unequivocal.”

He said a government led by the left would lead to “chaos”, adding that “the far left is dangerous” and want to “open up the floodgates of immigration”.

“They have no moral limit,” he said and urged voters to support the National Rally in next week’s second round.

RN president Jordan Bardella gives a speech after the projection announcement. Alamy Stock Photo

Alamy Stock Photo

“I will tirelessly fight for the French people and for France,” he said. 

“Next Sunday, victory is possible and change is within our grasp.” 

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the NFP left alliance has addressed supporters saying the huge turnout had “undone the trap that he (Macron) had laid us”. 

He said “widespread actions of young people and (those in) the poorest areas” had contributed to the large turnout. 

Founder of La France Insoumise (LFI) Jean-Luc Melenchon delivers a speech to supporters. Alamy Stock Photo

Alamy Stock Photo

On the second round, he said it would be “exceptionally intense”, offering a chance to choose between discrimination and uniting “to create a single people working together towards the common good unconditionally”. 

“In this situation, there can be no other way forward… We must give an absolute majority to the NFP,” said Mélenchon. 

He said that all energy should go towards ensuring the RN does not win in the second round, promising that his candidates would stand down in races where they end up in third place with an RN candidate in first, endorsing anyone but the far right in order to keep them out of power. 

“We call on each and every individual to remain level-headed,” he said. “France is at stake, the Republic is at stake.”

“The future is never written until it has happened” he said, noting that today’s numbers are not definitive.

“Our instructions are simple, direct and clear. Not one more vote, not one more seat for the RN,” Melenchon added.

President Emmanuel Macron has called for a “broad” democratic alliance following the news, having previously urged voters to reject the “extremes” on both ends of the political spectrum.

“Faced with National Rally, the time has come for a broad, clearly democratic and republican alliance for the second round,” he said in a statement as he and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal were not at their party headquarters for the projection announcement.

He also said that the high turnout in the first round spoke of “the importance of this vote for all our compatriots and the desire to clarify the political situation.”

Attal later urged voters not to give the far right “a single vote” in the second round.

“The far right is at the gates of power,” Attal said, warning that the party risked winning an absolute majority. “Our objective is clear: to prevent the RN from getting elected in the second round. Not a single vote must go to the National Rally.”

Big turnout

Today saw a massive turnout in the first of two rounds of voting in France, with the second round to come a week from now on 7 July.

By 4pm this afternoon, the turnout was already almost 60%, around 20 points higher than at the same point during the last election in 2022, when the final turnout was just 47.5%.

The ultimate winners of the National Assembly’s 577 seats will not be known until the second round has concluded.  

Unlike exit polls common to other countries, the French numbers are based on counted ballots, rather than interviews with people emerging from polling stations.

The staggered closing times between the big cities and the rest of the country also mean there is an hour to crunch the numbers between 7pm and 8pm local time, as was the case this evening. 

All eyes now turn to next Sunday, when those candidates who made it into the second round will face off against one and in some cases two rivals. 

In three-way contests, the pressure will be on the weaker candidates to drop out and endorse one of their rivals, decisions that could be crucial in deciding the next governing party in the National Assembly.

With reporting from AFP