Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is on course to take power

Emmanuel Macron suffered the biggest humiliation of his presidency on Sunday evening as his Renaissance party was beaten into third place in the first round of the parliamentary elections. Exit polls confirmed what the opinion polls predicted last week: that Marine Le Pen’s National Rally is now the dominant force in French politics. It surpassed the 31 per cent score in the European elections on June 9 – a victory that prompted Macron to call a snap election – winning 34 per cent of the vote.

The left-wing Popular Front coalition was second with 29 per cent, and Macron’s centrist Renaissance party trailed in third on 22 per cent. The turnout was 69 per cent, the biggest participation since the 1986 election. The second round of voting takes place next Sunday but Le Pen’s party is on course to take between 240 and 270 seats in the National Assembly. This would fall short of the 288 seats required for an absolute majority in the 577-seat Assembly.