France exit polls show left coalition set to win, far right in third place

Loose alliance of French left-wing parties on course to become the biggest parliamentary bloc and beat the far right, according to projections.

A loose alliance of French left-wing parties thrown together for snap elections is on course to become the biggest parliamentary bloc and beat the far right, according to projected results.

The New Popular Front (NFP) was formed last month after President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections, bringing together socialists, greens, communists and the hard-left into one camp.

Veteran presidential candidate Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) led the race after the June 30 first round, with opinion polls predicting that she would lead the biggest party in Parliament after Sunday’s run-off.

But projections based on vote samples by four major polling agencies and seen by AFP news agency on Sunday showed no group on course for an absolute majority, and the left-wing NFP ahead of both Macron’s centrist Ensemble and Le Pen’s eurosceptic, anti-immigration RN.

The left-wing group was predicted to take between 172 and 215 seats, the president’s alliance on 150 to 180 and the National Rally – which had hoped for an absolute majority – in a surprise third place on 115 to 155 seats.

This marks a new high water mark for the far right, but falls well short of a victory that would have been a rebuke for Macron, who called the snap election in what he said was  bid to halt France’s slide towards the political extremes.

Hard-left France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, giving his first reaction, called on French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to resign and said the left-wing coalition was ready to govern.

Macron will attend next week’s landmark NATO summit in Washington a diminished but not defeated figure and France has been left without a stable ruling majority less than three weeks before Paris hosts the Olympics.

‘Taken off guard’

Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler, reporting from Paris, said the people were “all taken off guard when the [exit polls] results came through”.

“These are just exit polls. For people here at the RN headquarters, this is a huge blow,” she said. “Le Pen had wanted to be the president of France for so long… She has been beaten once again.”

The election campaign, the shortest in French history, was marked by threats and violence – including racist abuse – against dozens of candidates and canvassers. Some 30,000 police were deployed to keep order, and many voters expressed fears that rioting could erupt in some cities after the results were announced.

Turnout was nevertheless high, with left-wing and centrist candidates urging supporters to defend democratic values and the rule of law — while the far right scented a chance to upend the established order.

By 5:00 pm (1500 GMT), according to interior ministry figures, some 61.4 percent of voters had turned out – the most at this stage of a legislative race since 1981.

Rim-Sarah Alouane, a researcher at Toulouse Capitole University, told Al Jazeera France has “avoided the worst tonight, that’s for sure”.

“There was a massive vote from people who I think simply realised how dangerous it was with the far right coming to power,” she said.

“But we should still be concerned that we were in that situation in the first place.”