France’s left and centrist parties are scrambling to cobble together a united front after Marine Le Pen’s resounding victory in the first round of snap parliamentary elections on Sunday brought her far-right, anti-immigration party a step closer to power.
Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) and its allies on the right finished first with 33% of the vote, followed by the leftwing New Popular Front alliance (NFP) with 28%, while President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist bloc came third with 22% of the vote.