The far-right French party National Rally of Marine Le Pen and her allies received 33% of the vote in the first round of parliamentary elections, announced the Ministry of the Interior, while the left New Popular Front by Jean-Luc Mélenchon came second with 28%.

President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist coalition received 20% of the voteaccording to the announcement of the ministry.

“The early elections announced by Emmanuel Macron backfired” comments the France 24 channel.

The far-right could take between 230 and 280 seats in the French parliament, being “on the verge” of power.

To be a real winner, one must collect absolute majority. That means he should understand at least 289 out of a total of 577 seats of the French National Assembly.

It is recalled that Macron’s alliance had 250 seats in the outgoing composition and needed the support of other parties to pass laws.

Without the absolute majority, the National Coalition will not be able to “pass” either its immigration plans that obey the once known as “France for the French” doctrine, nor the tax breaks it has promised.

A country in existential crisis

What seemed unthinkable a long time ago is now a fact in France. The Far Right it is a step before assuming power in France for the first time since the pro-Nazi Vichy regime under Philippe Pétain.

The party founded by Marine Le Pen’s Holocaust denier father Jean-Marie Le Pen and ex-Waffen-SS Pierre Bouquier in the 1980s took first place in the first round of France’s early parliamentary elections.

In particular, gathering 34.2%, according to the TV station TF1, the pre-election estimates were confirmed and the far-right “National Rally” is making a comeback, stronger than ever. in a country in existential crisis.

In second place with 29.1% is the New People’s Front of the parties of the Left, in third place the master of chaos, the president of France, Emmanuel Macron with 21.5% and in fourth place the Republicans with 10%.

“We haven’t won yet. The second round of early parliamentary elections will be crucial. We need an absolute majority so that Jordan Bardela, in eight days, will be sworn in as prime minister by Emmanuel Macron,” said Marine Le Pen, addressing her voters from the town of Hennes-Beaumont in northern France.

Politico’s commentary

Emmanuel Macron is faced with a painful choice: Do everything he can to stop the far right or try to save what is left of his once-dominant movement before it “dies,” Politico comments in its analysis.

For the 46-year-old leader of France, the first round of Sunday’s parliamentary elections it was a humiliation so personal as well as his astonishing rise to the presidency as a “fresh outsider” seven years ago.

He called early elections after a crushing defeat by the far-right in June’s European elections, with one goal: to stop France from going to the extremes. It did the opposite.

Europe’s second-largest economy and the EU’s only nuclear-powered one is now closer than ever to forming a far-right government for the first time in French history after Marine Le Pen’s National Rally took a dramatic lead in the first round of elections.

If the July 7 runoff election gives the National Rally a parliamentary majority — and forecasts suggest that scenario is likely — France will find itself in uncharted waters. France will be ruled, at least in part, by politicians who have made a name for themselves as his sympathizers Vladimir Putin, while pledging to dismantle the European Union, declare war on immigration and leave NATO.