Marine Le Pen’s National Rally wins first round of French voting

Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally has won a total of 33.4% of votes in the first round of the parliamentary election in France, Le Parisien newspaper reports.

The left-wing New Popular Front is in second place with 27.98% of votes. French President Emmanuel Macron’s alliance trailed in third place with 20.76%.

To win in the first round, parties needed to get more than 50%, with a minimum of 25% of the total number of voters registered in the district. The election of a number of MPs in the first round was facilitated by the high turnout. The remaining candidates who did not pass the 50% threshold will enter the runoff.

The total number of parliamentary seats in the French National Assembly is 577. The party needs 289 seats for a majority in parliament.