Closing summary
This blog is closing soon but we’ll back in a few hours with all the latest updates. In the meantime, here’s a roundup of the key developments:
Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally won about 34% of the vote in the first round of legislative election, exit polls showed, putting it in reach of becoming the biggest political force in the French parliament.
The New Popular Front (NFP), a hastily assembled left-wing coalition, was projected to win around 29% of the vote, the exit polls showed, while President Emmanuel Macron’s Together alliance was on about 20.5%-23%.
Nevertheless, national estimates for the first round may not reflect the final breakdown of seats in the national assembly, which depends on races in constituencies.
Turnout was very high, with pollster Ipsos estimating that 65.8% of eligible voters cast ballots.
Speaking after polls closed, Le Pen said French people had shown “in an unambiguous vote … their wish to turn the page on seven years of the disdainful and corrosive [presidency]” of Macron.
Far-right figures from across Europe congratulated the National Rally.
Sixty-five MPs were elected in the first round – a high number. These included 38 MPs for the far-right National Rally and its alliance with Eric Ciotti of Les Républicains. That figure is more than double the number Le Pen had said she expected.
Pressure was mounting during the evening from left and centrist figures for tactical voting in the second round next Sunday.
Thousands took part in street demonstrations against the far right, including at the Place de la Republique in Paris, where barricades were set on fire and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the hard left France Unbowed party, addressed the crowd.
Gabriel Attal, the prime minister and a Macron ally, said “not one single vote” should go to the National Rally. “The stakes are clear: to prevent the National Rally from having an absolute majority,” he said.
Mélenchon said the left alliance would withdraw all its candidates who came third in the first round, saying: “Our guideline is simple and clear: not a single more vote for the National Rally.”
However it is not so clear that Macron’s centrist alliance will do the same. In a written statement, Macron called on voters to rally behind candidates who are “clearly republican and democratic”, which, based on his recent declarations, would include the NFP’s more moderate leftwing parties but exclude candidates from France Unbowed.
Attal had been due to sign a decree on Monday morning introducing new limits on unemployment benefits – a policy that had been attacked by the far right and the left – but decided to suspend the decree.
Market reaction to Sunday’s result was muted, Reuters reports, with the euro gaining around 0.23% in early Asia-Pacific trading.
Fiona Cincotta, senior markets analyst at London’s City Index, described relief that the result yielded “no surprises.” She said:
Le Pen had a slightly smaller margin than some of the polls had pointed to, which may have helped the euro a little bit higher on the open. Attention now is on July 7 to see whether the second round supports an absolute majority or not. So it does feel like we’re a little bit in limbo.
