After the second round, it will be clear whether Le Pen and her allies will have an absolute majority for the cabinet

Party "National Assembly", led by the young Jordan Bardella, emerged decisively in the lead yesterday in the historic parliamentary elections, which may open the way to power for the extreme right for the first time since the Second World War, AFP reported, quoted by BTA.

At a time when the traditional "republican front" (the practice of left and right parties uniting in a second round of elections against the extreme right) does not seem as systematic as in the past, the party of Bardella and Marine Le Pen seems capable of obtaining a relative and even an absolute majority (289 seats) in the coming Sunday.

With a result of 33.5 percent of the votes, "National Assembly" came out on top after the first round, distinguished by a high voter turnout, ahead of the left-wing coalition "New People's Front" (28.5 percent) and the camp of President Emmanuel Macron (22.1 percent).

The French "gave an unappealable verdict" in the first round of the French parliamentary elections, the 28-year-old Bardela expressed satisfaction. He appears to be getting closer and closer to the Matignon Palace, where the French prime minister's office is, AFP said.

The second round on July 7 will be "one of the most defining in the entire history of the Fifth Republic," which was founded in 1958, Bardella added. He promised that if he heads the next government, he will be the prime minister of all French people, respect the constitution, work with President Macron, but also be uncompromising.

"We need an absolute majority," said Marine Le Pen, for her part, when she announced that she had been elected in the first round in her district of Hennes-Beaumont (Northern France) as a representative of the people. "The Macronist Bloc" is "virtually erased," said the leader of the French far-right, who lost to Macron in the two second rounds of the last presidential elections - in 2017 and in 2022. In her words, the French have expressed "their will to turn the page on 7 years of contemptible and corrosive power" of the head of state.

"Faced with a 'National Assembly', the time has come for a large, clear democratic and republican unification for the second round," Macron called in a written statement. However, he did not specify what behavior to follow in case of duels between "National Assembly" and "New People's Front" or in runoffs with three participants.

"The extreme right is at the gates of power," warned Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and called "not to give a single vote to the National Assembly." The same call was made by the leader of the far-left party "Disobedient France" Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a leading figure in the "New Popular Front" formation. Atal and Mélenchon called on the candidates of their formations, who came third in their respective single-member constituencies, to abandon the second round in favor of other far-right opponents who have a better chance of being elected.

The conservative "Republicans" party, which won about 10 percent of the vote, refused to urge voters to vote against the far right in a runoff. "In the places where we did not qualify for the second round, we believe that the voters are free to choose, we do not give instructions at the national level and let the French decide consciously," said a statement from the leadership of the "Republicans". "The danger that lurks in our country today is the extreme left," said the MEP from the "Republicans" in a separate communiqué. François-Xavier Bellamy.

Voter turnout in the first round was at least 65 percent. For comparison, in 2022 it was 47.57 percent.

The result is a heavy defeat for Macron, who was betting that in these early elections he would increase the relative majority his party and its allies had in the lower house. This now seems utterly improbable. If none of the camps wins an absolute majority, as the predicted results show, France faces difficult negotiations to form a coalition government, DPA noted.

Many French voters are worried about inflation and other economic problems and are irritated by the rule of Macron, who is seen as arrogant and out of touch with the lives of ordinary people, the AP said. Main issues for many of the voters are the rising cost of living and immigration - topics on which the "National Assembly" is conducting an active campaign, including on online platforms such as "TikTok", added the agency.

Macron called the early elections after the "National Assembly" led by Marine Le Pen made big gains in the European Parliament elections in early June.
Macron's term runs until 2027 and his position is not under threat, but the results could have serious implications for the rest of his term and reshape French politics.
If "National Assembly" secured a majority in the 577-member National Assembly, Macron will be forced to appoint a prime minister from among his own ranks to ensure a stable cabinet. Such an outcome would have serious consequences.

The National Assembly is one of the two houses of the French Parliament. It participates in legislative activity and can overthrow the government with a vote of no confidence. If a bloc other than Macron's centrist camp wins an absolute majority, Macron will de facto be forced to appoint a prime minister from among his own ranks. Then it will come to the so-called cohabitation. Macron's power will decrease significantly, and the prime minister will gain relative power, DPA said.

We can witness an unprecedented "coexistence" between Macron, a pro-European president, and a government that is much more hostile to the European Union, which could lead to sparks flying over the prerogatives of the two heads of executive power, specifically in the areas of diplomacy and defense. Another possible scenario, according to AFP, is a deadlock in the National Assembly, with no foreseeable possibility of cooperation between the highly polarized camps, which risks plunging France into the unknown.

A potential parliamentary majority would allow Le Pen to make her protégé Bardella prime minister and mark her long-standing efforts to clean up her party's image to make it more palatable to ordinary voters. She inherited the political formation, then called the National Front, from her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was convicted several times of racist and anti-Semitic statements, AP noted.

Addressing a jubilant crowd of supporters waving blue, white and red flags, Le Pen called on her constituents, who did not back her party in the first round, to support her and give her an impressive legislative majority. This scenario would force Bardella and Macron into an awkward power-sharing deal for both sides. Macron has said he will not step down before his term expires in 2027.

Only in the second round will it be clear whether Le Pen's party and its allies will get the absolute majority they will need to form a stable government and then begin to follow through on their promises to undo many of Macron's key policies. This would include halting French supplies of long-range missiles to Ukraine in the war against a full-scale invasion by Russia. The far-right's more confrontational approach to the European Union, its plans to roll back Macron's pension reforms and promises to boost voters' purchasing power without specifying how it would finance it, could also spook European financial markets, the AP warned.