France Votes in Snap Polls as Far-Right Eyes Historic Win
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - French people vote on Sunday in high-stakes snap parliamentary elections which could alter France’s trajectory and see the far-right party of Marine Le Pen take power in a historic first.
With Russia’s war against Ukraine in its third year and energy and food prices much higher, support for the anti-immigration and euroskeptic National Rally (RN) party has surged despite President Emmanuel Macron’s pledges to prevent its ascent.
Polling stations open across mainland France for the first round of elections at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) and close 12 hours later, immediately followed by projections that usually predict the result with a degree of accuracy.
Voters in France’s overseas territories that span the globe cast ballots earlier in the weekend. Some 49 million French are eligible to vote, AFP reported.
Elections for the 577 seats in the National Assembly are a two-round process. The shape of the new parliament will become clear after the second round, a week later, on July 7.
Most polls show that National Rally is on course to win the largest number of seats in the National Assembly, parliament’s lower house, although it remains unclear if the party will secure an outright majority.
On Monday, Macron plans to convene a government meeting to decide the further course of action, government sources told AFP.
Under Macron, France has been one of Ukraine’s main Western backers since Russia invaded in 2022.
But Le Pen and Bardella have said they would scale down French support for Ukraine by ruling out the deployment of ground troops and long-range missiles.
