France has voted to reject the far right, with a leftist coalition becoming the largest party in a hung parliament, shock exit poll results forecast.
In a dramatic turnaround on Sunday night, Marine Le Pen was dealt a bitter blow as Ipsos exit polls indicated her far-right National Rally had failed to capitalise on the ascendant trajectory which spooked centrist president Emmanuel Macron into calling the snap parliamentary elections.
Pollsters had widely expected National Rally to emerge as the largest party in France’s National Assembly, with most voters focused on the question of whether the far right could succeed in winning the majority needed to deliver the country’s first such government since the Nazi occupation.
Instead, it was the leftist New Popular Front – comprising the Socialists, Greens, Communists and Jean-Luc Melenchon’s far-left France Unbowed (LFI) – which was projected to have won the most seats in France’s National Assembly as polls closed at 8pm local time.
Celebrations broke out as relief washed over those on the left and in the centre of French politics – though the expected victory for the left is also a blow to Mr Macron.
The exit polls have proven accurate in past elections and if the results are confirmed on Monday, it will spell intense uncertainty ahead for the European Union’s second-largest economy – with the potential for serious political deadlock if no viable ruling group or coalition emerges in parliament.
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Following the left’s projected victory, prime minister Gabriel Attal announced that he would tender his resignation to Mr Macron. The Elysee Palace said the president himself will wait for the full picture to emerge in parliament before taking the necessary next decisions, but that he “will respect the choice of French people”.
France appears to be in uncharted territory, with no group expected to come close to securing the 289 seats needed for a majority. The leftist coalition was on course to win between 172 and 215 seats out of 577, with the Macron-backing Ensemble on 150 to 180, and the National Rally 132 to 152.
The results mean Mr Macron is likely to be saddled with a parliament stacked with hostile MPs for the final three years of his presidency, with Mr Melenchon declaring immediately after the exit poll that Mr Macron should invite his coalition to form a government.
Describing the projections as an “immense relief for a majority of people in our country”, Mr Melenchon said: “The will of the people must be strictly respected... the defeat of the president and his coalition is clearly confirmed.”
But Mr Macron’s interior minister Gerald Darminin shot back that “no one can say they have won this legislative election, especially not Mr Melenchon”.
The surprise results come after the New Popular Front entered into a reluctant agreement with Ensemble, which saw them stand down 132 and 83 candidates respectively this week in order to present a single challenger to far-right candidates.
The “republican front” is a mechanism used successfully historically against the far right under France’s two-round voting system, which sees candidates with 12.5 per cent of the vote progress to the second round.
In a sombre speech after polls closed, Ms Le Pen’s protege Jordan Bardella – who had his sights set on becoming prime minister – denounced the political manoeuvring that led the National Rally to fall far short of expectations.
“Tonight, by deliberately taking the responsibility to paralyse our institutions, Emmanuel Macron... is consequently depriving the French people of any responses to their daily problems for many months to come,” Mr Bardella said.
Mr Macron took even his own allies by surprise in calling the snap election last month, after the anti-immigration National Rally made huge gains in European elections – with the president taking a huge gamble that French voters would block the far right as they have in the past.
While Mr Macron appears to have succeeded in momentarily defusing the far-right threat, millions of voters on both the left and right of France’s increasingly polarised political landscape are likely to have seized on his surprise decision as an opportunity to vent their anger and sideline the centrist president.
France now faces the prospect of weeks of political machinations to determine who will be prime minister and lead the national assembly. And Mr Macron faces the prospect of leading the country alongside a prime minister opposed to most of his domestic policies.
Unlike other countries in Europe more accustomed to coalition governments, France does not have a tradition of politicians from rival political camps coming together to form a working majority.
Prolonged instability could increase suggestions from his opponents that Mr Macron should cut short his second and last term. The French constitution prevents him from dissolving parliament again in the next 12 months, removing that as a route to giving France greater clarity.
Mr Melenchon’s alliance partners struck a conciliatory tone, with Socialist leader Raphael Glucksmann acknowledging: “We’re ahead, but we’re in a divided parliament... so we’re going to have to act like grown-ups.
“We’re going to have to talk, to discuss, to engage in dialogue... The balance of power has shifted in parliament... and there’s going to be a fundamental change of political culture.”
Oliver Faure, the Socialist first secretary, said: “The RN had made the choice of dividing French citizens from one another. We have to restore the country on a clear basis and the New Popular Front must take the lead in this new chapter of our history.”
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