France moves to the far right

The right-wing populist party Rassemblement National (RN) and its allies led by Les Républicains (LR) President Eric Ciotti came out on top in the first round of the French parliamentary elections with 33.15% of the votes. This is according to the results announced by the Ministry of the Interior on the night of 30 June to 1 July. The RN is followed by the left-wing parties of the New Popular Front (27.99%) and the parties of the presidential majority grouped under the Ensemble alliance (20.04%). The last word has not yet been spoken on the composition of the new National Assembly. Much will depend on the electoral recommendations of the democratic parties in the constituencies in which they have been eliminated. In 306 constituencies, three candidates have also emerged for the second round of voting (triangulaires). It remains to be seen whether the democratic third parties will withdraw from the election campaign in order to maintain the firewall against the right-wing populists.