French far-right in sight of majority for first time after first round of voting – here’s what happens now

By Rainbow Murray, Professor of Politics, Queen Mary University of London

French voters went to the polls on Sunday for the first round of snap legislative elections. For the first time, a victory for the far right is looking like a credible prospect – an extraordinary turnaround for a party that until 2022 held only a handful of seats in parliament.

The far-right National Rally has topped the polls with a score of more than 33% of the first-round vote (compared with 18.7% in 2022). The left-wing New Popular Front alliance is a few points behind in second place with 28% of the vote.…

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