Voters turned out at a rate not seen in decades. Polls showed the left-wing coalition New Popular Front gaining a majority of seats in parliament with the far-right National Rally in third place.
Participants gather during an election night rally following the first results of the second round of France's legislative election at Place de la Republique in Paris on Sunday.PARIS — After the shock of French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to call snap elections last month, another surprise came for French voters as polls closed Sunday evening: the far-right National Party did not receive the majority of the parliamentary seats pollsters had predicted. It didn’t even come close.
"The will of the people must be strictly respected," Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the left-wing leader, told a crowd of hundreds of supporters in northern Paris Sunday evening, declaring the results as a victory for the newly formed alliance, adding the results were evidence of the country’s outright refusal of a far-right government. “Our people have clearly rejected the worst case scenario,” he said. “Tonight, the National Rally is far from having an absolute majority.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced his resignation about an hour after the results came in Sunday evening, and Macron will be under pressure to appoint someone from the NFP coalition. French President Emmanuel Macron, right, votes for the second round of the legislative elections in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, northern France, on Sunday.
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