Far-right National Rally Party Wins Big in France

Election results in France this morning, show the Far-right National Rally Party in the lead with an estimated third of the vote. This is the first of two rounds of legislative elections. It does not impact sitting President Emmanuel Macron’s term, but it’s still a sobering rebuke of Macron, who called the Snap election just three weeks ago. The result puts France on course for its first far-right government since the Nazi occupation of World War II. For the latest, let’s go to Claudio Lavanga. Good morning Claudio. How did this gamble backfire for Macron?

Good morning Frances. Well, honestly, it looks like that the political gamble by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron backfired spectacularly. Now back in June when the French president dissolved parliament after the crashing defeat of his party against the National Rally. Well he also, analysts say, called for snap elections, even if didn’t have to, to do two things. Well, one was to outmaneuver the far-right by scaring voters away, or at least that’s what he hoped. Or to allow the far-right to actually get it to the government now in the hope that it will disappoint ahead of the 2027 presidential elections. Well, that had the opposite effect, because the National Rally had amazing results and much better than expected, more than 33%.

(01:25)
Of course, this is still just the first round of voting. Voters are called to go back on Sunday to the polls for the second and last round. And President Macron has called for all the democratic and Republican political forces to come together to at least limit the damage. But now the damage is done. Because of that gamble, now France and French politics are in turmoil, and by this time next week, well, we may, as you mentioned, have the first far-right government in France, to lead the government in France since the second World War.

Thanks for watching our YouTube channel. Follow today’s top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News app.