France: National Rally Leads After First Round of Parliamentary Elections

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Facts

  • French Pres. Emmanuel Macron and his centrist Ensemble coalition face a second political setback in less than a month after the right-wing National Rally (RN) secured the most votes in the first round of the country's parliamentary elections on Sunday.1
  • According to France's Interior Ministry on Monday, RN took 33.15% of the vote, while the leftist New Popular Front (NFP) coalition followed in second place with 27.99%. Macron's Ensemble finished third with 20.76%.2
  • Macron called the snap election after RN outperformed his party in European Parliament elections last month — a move which appeared to gamble on the assumption that RN couldn't replicate the results at the national level.3
  • However, with 76 of the 577 parliamentary seats up for grabs, the RN secured 39 seats on Sunday, the NFP won 32, and the Ensemble took two. The remaining 501 seats will be decided in the second round of voting on Sunday.2
  • Meanwhile, NFP leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon pledged to withdraw his party's third-placed candidates from the second round to defeat the RN, as thousands gathered in Paris and other cities to protest Sunday's election results.4

Sources: 1Euronews, 2CNN, 3Al Jazeera and 4Evening Standard.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by NBC. If RN takes the majority next Sunday, it will be the first time a far-right party has controlled France's government since the Nazi's occupation of the country in World War II. The other parties must now do everything possible to prevent that outcome from happening.
  • Right narrative, as provided by Euronews. Today's result comes after Macron and his ruling elite consistently turned their backs on the French public. If Bardella and his party are successful next Sunday, they will rule in the interests of all of France — making sure that the best interests of the country are protected.

Predictions