The leftist Nupes coalition narrowly edged out Liberal President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble alliance in the first round of Sunday’s French parliamentary elections, according to early vote projections.
Nupes achieved between 25% and 26.2%, and Ensemble between 25% and 25.8%, according to four polling institutes at the close of polling stations.
The far-right National Group (RN) was in third place, with between 18.9 and 19.7% and the conservative Republicans (LR) would have 11.3% to 12.5%.
Abstention would be around a record for a first round, standing at around 52.5%.
The current record is from 2017, when abstention was 51.3%.
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The projections also suggest that Macron’s Alliance is not guaranteed to renew its absolute majority in the National Assembly, which stands at 289 seats.
The Elabe institute attributes 270-310 to it, for Ipsos 255-295, Ifop 180-210 and Harris 260-300.
For its part, Nupes would obtain between 150 and 220 seats, to become the leading opposition force.
The conservative Los Republicanos would remain in third place (between 33 and 80 deputies), while the RN would remain between 5 and 45. EFE
