Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party made unprecedented gains in France’s first legislative election round. Still, the final result will be determined by days of alliance-building before next week’s runoff vote.
The RN and its allies received 33% of the vote, followed by a leftwing alliance with 28% and President Emmanuel Macron’s centrists with only 20%, according to official interior ministry results released on Monday.
The election results was a major loss for Macron, who called the quick election after his party was defeated by the RN in European Parliament elections last month.
However, whether the anti-immigrant, eurosceptic RN can form a government will be determined by next week’s decisive round and the ability of other parties in defeating Marine Le Pen by rallying around the best-placed opponent candidates in constituencies throughout France.
Leaders of both the leftwing New Popular Front and Macron’s centrist alliance made clear on Sunday night they would withdraw their own candidates in districts where another candidate was better placed to beat the RN in next Sunday’s runoff.
A longtime pariah for many in France, the RN is now closer to power than it has ever been. Marine Le Pen has sought to clean up the image of a party known for racism and antisemitism, a tactic that has worked amid voter anger at Macron, the high cost of living and growing concerns over immigration.
An RN-led government would raise major questions over where the European Union was headed, given its resistance to further EU integration. Economists have also asked whether its spending plans are fully funded.
The euro touched a two-week high during Asian trading on Monday on market relief the RN had not done better.
“I think it’s a slight ‘well, there were no surprises’, so there was a sense of relief there,” said Fiona Cincotta, senior markets analyst at City Index.
RN lawmakers on Monday urged centre-right politicians in the Republicans (LR) party, which received less than 7% of the first-round vote, to withdraw from districts where such a move would work in RN’s favour.
“If they know they’re not going to win, I’m calling on them to stand down and let the national side win,” RN lawmaker Laure Lavalette told RTL radio.
For now, the Republicans party, which split ahead of the vote with a small number of its lawmakers joining the RN, has given no indication of its stance.
All candidates who made it through the first round have until Tuesday evening to confirm whether they will go into the second.
