French election exit poll projects left-wing alliance to take the most seats

In a the second round of the French parliamentary elections, the left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP) is projected to take between 172 and 215 seats. The first exit poll results were announced on Sunday evening.

The polls show that the NFP would become the largest party in the second round of elections. However, no party managed to gain the 289 seats required for an absolute majority.

President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble is projected to take 150 to 180 seats, while the far-right National Rally (RN) comes in third with between 115 and 155 seats.

In the previous parliamentary elections, in 2022, the left-wing front won more than 150 seats. Ensemble was the largest party at the time, with 245 seats. Ensemble obtaining more than 150 seats is another surprise of the provisional result.

The first round was won by RN. Over the past week, more than 200 candidates from the other parties stepped to aside with the intention of ensuring that the second round run-off was a contest between the RN candidate and the best-scoring other candidate in as many constituencies as possible.

The French Interior ministry reported that voter turnout was estimated at 67 per cent, the highest it has been in four decades.

Tens of thousands of police were deployed on Sunday after riots broke out following the first round of elections. In Lyon, shopkeepers boarded up their stores to prepare for possible riots.

A final result for the elections is expected by early Monday.

^{Jean-Luc Melenchon of the left-wing La France Insoumise delivers a speech in Paris after the first results of the second round of France's legislative election © PHOTO SAMEER AL-DOUMY / AFP}