French parliamentary polls close with high turnout, exit poll indicates far-right tops vote share

Paris: Snap polls to the 577-member French National Assembly on Sunday witnessed a heavy turnout in the first round, surpassing the voting percentage of previous elections over the past four decades, while exit polls indicated the far-right, fresh from its European Parliament election triumph, is forecast to gain the most votes overall and President Emmanuel Macron’s party comes third. While final figures were awaited, at 5 p.m. local time (3 p.m. GMT) - three hours before the official close of polls in the cities (polling in rural areas ended at 6 p.m.), nearly 60 per cent (59.39 per cent) of the electorate had exercised their franchise, as per figures from the Ministry of the Interior. In 2022, the turnout at the same time was just 39.4 per cent, the BBC reported. As per exit poll projections for the key poll, whose results will not only impact the political fate of President Macron, but also the course of the country and the European Union, the far-right National Rally (RN) of Marine Le-Pen, with the 28-year-old Jordan Bardella its PM face, has secured 34 per cent of the votes.

As per the exit poll, conducted by Ipsos-Talan for France Televisions and Radio France, the New Popular Front alliance of various Left parties was second with 28.1 per cent, while Macron’s own centrist Ensemble Alliance trailed in the third place with just over a fifth of the vote, at 20.3 per cent. However, the story is not yet over, despite Le-Pen, in her address after the polling ended and exit poll predictions were released, exulting in the “wipe-out” of the Macron camp.

“Democracy has spoken and the French have put the RN and its allies at the top, practically wiping out the Macron camp,” she said, adding that people clearly want to “turn the page after seven years of scornful and corrosive rule”, the BBC reported. (IANS)

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