The National Rally’s Victory in French National Assembly First Round

The National Rally party achieved a significant triumph in the initial round of voting for the French National Assembly, making its mark with a brand of nationalist and anti-immigrant politics that had previously been considered taboo.

Early projections from pollsters indicated that the party is expected to secure around 34 percent of the vote, placing it well ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance party and its allies, who garnered approximately 21 percent.

While these results do not offer a definitive forecast of the parliamentary seats each party will attain, the National Rally appears poised to become a dominant force in the lower house, albeit potentially without an absolute majority.

The New Popular Front, a coalition of left-wing parties encompassing moderate socialists to the far-left France Unbowed, captured about 29 percent of the vote based on the projections.

High voter turnout, exceeding 65 percent, underscored the significance voters attached to the snap election, in contrast to the 47.51 percent turnout in the first round of the previous parliamentary election in 2022.

President Macron, now in his seventh year in office, encountered a significant setback following his party’s substantial defeat to the National Rally in the recent European Parliament election.

In response to the projections, Mr. Macron called for a “large, clearly democratic and republican alliance” for the second round in the face of the National Rally’s growing influence.