- The National Rally party is expected to win.
- The first round of voting begins at 8:00 a.m.
- High participation is expected.
French people will vote today (Sunday) in early parliamentary elections, which could lead to the far-right National Rally party (RN), led by Marine Le Pen, taking power for the first time.
This is because there has been a significant increase in support for the anti-immigration and Eurosceptic party with Russia's war against Ukraine in its third year and energy and food prices much higher. AFP reported.
The first round of voting in mainland France starts at 8am and ends 12 hours later, with projections predicting the results. Voters abroad cast their ballots earlier, with 49 million French people eligible to vote, including those in France's overseas territories.
Elections for the 577 seats in the National Assembly are held in two rounds. The shape of the new parliament will be known after the second round, a week later, on July 7.
Most polls show RN on track to win the largest number of seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, although it remains unclear whether the party will secure an outright majority.
A high turnout is expected and final opinion polls have given RN between 35% and 37% of the vote, compared with 27.5%-29% for the left-wing alliance New Popular Front and 20%-21% for Macron's centrist camp.
If the RN wins an absolute majority, its party leader Jordan Bardella, Le Pen's 28-year-old protégé with no government experience, could become prime minister in a tense “cohabitation” with Macron.
Macron plans to call a government meeting on Monday to decide on a course of action, government sources said. AFP.
France is heading for a year of political chaos and confusion with an assembly lacking consensus, said Mujtaba Rahman, director for Europe at Eurasia Group, a risk consultancy.
“There is no precedent in recent French politics for an impasse of such magnitude,” Rahman said.
