France: Upset in second round of election, left-wing party leads in exit polls
Voting for the second phase of early parliamentary elections in France has been completed and the counting of votes has begun.
The success of the right-wing party National Rally, which won a historic lead in the first phase of exit polls, is in jeopardy.
Voting in France on Sunday began at 8 am local time, and continued until 6 pm in rural areas and small towns, and 8 pm in major cities.
A total of 577 seats are being contested in the elections and 49.3 crore citizens were eligible to vote while any party has to win at least 289 seats to win a majority in the parliamentary elections.
After the voting was completed, according to the exit polls, the success of the right-wing party National Rally, which had a historic lead in the first phase, was in jeopardy.
According to exit polls, the right-wing National Rally could win 135 to 155 seats, the left-wing New Popular Front 180 to 210 seats, and President Macron's coalition 155 to 175 seats.
The final result will be declared in few hours.
It should be remembered that according to the exit poll results of the first phase of the French elections on June 30, the far-right party National Rally was first with 34 percent of the votes, the left-wing party Popular Front was second with 28.1 percent of the votes and the party of President Macron. She stood third with 20.3 percent votes.
If the far-right National Rally wins the required majority in the second round of French parliamentary elections, it will be the first government by a right-wing party in France since World War II.
According to the report, during the first phase of the elections, in constituencies where no candidate was able to get a clear lead, the distribution of votes among three parties benefited the National Rally.
After winning a majority in the first round, opposition parties joined forces to prevent the far-right National Rally from coming to power in France, and more than 200 candidates withdrew from the second round a few days ago to prevent the split of the anti-rightist vote. Had given up.
According to the report of the American Broadcasting Corporation, before the withdrawal of the candidates, it was believed that the National Rally may face difficulties in achieving the target of the required number of seats in the House of 577 to form a majority government in the second phase of the elections.
Pre-withdrawal projections estimated that the National Rally could get between 230 and 280 seats.
Before the first round of France's general election, National Rally leader and prime ministerial candidate Jordan Bardella said he would refuse to take power if he failed to win a majority in the House of Commons, where he would need coalition votes to pass legislation. .
It should be noted that the far-right party won the European Union elections after which President Macron announced early elections in France.