Far Right Leads French Elections.. Macron Calls for Confrontation

By a large margin, the right-wing National Rally party and its allies topped the results of the first round of early legislative elections in France, garnering more than 34 percent of the vote, according to initial estimates.

The far right, the leftist alliance or the "National Popular Front" (between 28.5 and 29.1 percent), as well as President Emmanuel Macron's camp (20.5 to 21.5 percent), were ahead, according to these estimates.

Macron Calls for Confrontation

The National Rally may win a large relative majority in the National Assembly, and perhaps an absolute majority according to the forecasts of three centers.

For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a "grand alliance" to confront the far right, and urged voters to block it in the decisive second round of legislative elections.

Marine Le Pen considered that "Macron's camp has been practically wiped out", saying: "We hope that Bardella will be the Prime Minister of France after the elections", referring to Jordan Bardella, the most likely person to head the government.

Bardella's economic plans

For his part, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal stressed that the National Rally party should not get any votes in the second round, saying "Not even a single vote should go to the National Rally... It should be prevented from obtaining an absolute majority".

It is noteworthy that Bardella presents himself as a "potential prime minister to enhance purchasing power", pledging to reduce value-added tax on energy and fuel, and exempt those under 30 from income tax.

Meanwhile, his opponents say that he lacks professional experience due to his early entry into politics, and that his economic plans are unrealistic.

It is worth noting that Macron will remain president after the parliamentary elections, the second round of which will be held on July 7, but he will have to choose a prime minister from the party or coalition that wins the largest number of seats in the National Assembly, regardless of the extent of disagreement with him on policies.