The left wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance triumphed in the second round of France’s snap parliamentary elections on Sunday, with the far right National Rally (RN) party coming in third, according to first exit polls released immediately after voting closed.
Per the preliminary results, the NFP bloc has won between 170 to 190 seats in the 577-seat lower house, while RN has taken between 135 to 155 seats, behind President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble bloc which looks set to take 150 to 170 seats.
The result was unexpected with polls ahead of the vote predicting that RN was on course to clinch between 200 to 230 seats, even if looked set to miss out on an absolute majority.
Early exit polls published by media in neighboring Belgium in the final hour of voting had also suggested RN was on track to come out on top.
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