Far Right Wins First Round of French Election

Marine Le Pen’s National Rally and its allies won the first round of France’s snap parliamentary election on Sunday. President Emmanuel Macron now risks having to share power with a far-right government.

• National Rally won 33 percent of the vote.
• The leftist New Popular Front bloc won 28 percent.
• Macron’s centralist Renaissance party won 20 percent.

Bardella: “We haven’t won yet,” Le Pen told a crowd of supporters. “We need an absolute majority so that [National Rally President] Jordan Bardella will be appointed prime minister in eight days by Emmanuel Macron.”

Early projections for the July 7 runoff vote show National Rally is expected to win 230 to 295 seats of the 577 in the National Assembly. If it can win a majority, it will be France’s first far-right government since its World War ii Nazi occupation. Macron will remain president, but a new prime minister would be appointed from the far right, most likely Le Pen’s protege, Jordan Bardella.

I want to express my gratitude to [National Rally voters] and I call on them to remain mobilized in a final effort on Sunday 7 July. The vote they will cast next Sunday is one of the most decisive in the history of the Fifth Republic.
—Jordan Bardella

Teaming up: Both New Popular Front and Macron’s alliance have said they will drop out of districts where the other is expected to do better off against National Rally.

This would ensure National Rally does not gain a majority of the seats but would result in a hung Parliament. No party would be in full control, but National Rally would still have the biggest influence.

Riots: Far-left demonstrators took to the streets Sunday night to protest the election results. Riots broke out in Paris, Lyon and Bobigny, where protesters set off fireworks, ignited smoke bombs, and lit fires.

Rightward shift: The surmounting difficulties France is facing are pushing voters to the extremes. The Trumpet has long warned that far-right parties in Europe would grow in popularity as the Continent undergoes a dramatic shift. This is prophesied in the Bible.

Learn more: Read “Europe’s Altered Personality.”