Marine Le Pen's National Assembly becomes the largest party in the first round of the French parliamentary election, according to exit polls.
Now she hopes for an absolute majority – while the president calls for a "broad gathering" against the far-right.
Various surveys give the National Assembly (RN) around 34 percent of the votes, compared to 28 for the left-wing alliance NFP and 20 for President Emmanuel Macron's center alliance Together.
A total of between 65 and 85 members are estimated to have been directly elected to the 577 seats in parliament on Sunday, including Marine Le Pen herself. The rest will have to wait for a decisive second round in a week.
Then, the National Assembly hopes for even better results.
Democracy has spoken. We need an absolute majority so that (party leader) Jordan Bardella can be appointed prime minister in a week, says Le Pen at an election rally in her constituency Hénin-Beaumont.
Calling for gathering
However, everything depends on the final vote next Sunday in the many constituencies where no candidate has yet reached the necessary 50 percent. There, at least the two best candidates will meet in a decisive duel for the mandate.
According to the results of the first round, there will also be three-way battles in several places, where a third candidate has received enough votes to participate.
The opponents of the National Assembly are calling for a strong gathering against the far-right.
"The time has come to gather clearly democratically and republicanly before the second round," says President Emmanuel Macron in a statement.
Tonight is not like other nights. The far-right is at the gates of power, warns Prime Minister Gabriel Attal in a TV address.
Withdrawing?
On the left, several party leaders within NFP have already promised that their candidates will withdraw if they are third in their constituencies.
Not a single vote, not a single seat for RN, says Jean-Luc Mélenchon from the left-wing party LFI, for example.
Attal promises the same thing – but only if there is a counter-candidate who "also defends the values of the republic".
The right-wing party Republicans (LR), which gets around 10 percent in the exit polls, does not intend to give its voters any recommendations before the final round.
The danger our country is facing now is the far-left, says EU parliamentarian François-Xavier Bellamy on French TV.
The election result sets the stage for a tense week leading up to the final round on July 7.
Already on Sunday, the French police were on high alert for potential protests and demonstrations.
This is how the first round of the French parliamentary election went on Sunday, according to exit polls on French TV:
National Assembly (RN): 33.5-34.2 percent
New People's Front (NFP): 28.1-29.1 percent
Together: 20.3-21.5 percent
Republicans (LR): 10-10.2 percent
According to the polling institute Ipsos, the National Assembly can hope for between 230 and 280 seats in parliament after the final round, compared to 125-165 for NFP and 70-100 for Macron's alliance.
The voter turnout is preliminarily reported to be 67 percent, compared to almost 48 in the 2022 election.
