PARIS: French people voted on Sunday in the first round of high-stakes snap parliamentary elections which could alter France's trajectory and see the far-right party of Marine Le Pen take power in a historic first.
President Emmanuel Macron stunned the nation by calling snap polls after the far-right National Rally (RN) party's strong showing in European Parliament elections this month.
Support for the anti-immigration and eurosceptic party has surged despite Macron's pledges to prevent its ascent. The two-round vote could put the far-right in power in France for the first time since the Nazi occupation in World War II.
Polling stations opened across mainland France at 8:00 am, immediately followed by projections that usually predict the result with a degree of accuracy. Many voters said they were concerned about the future. "I don't recognise my country anymore," Roxane Lebrun, 40, said in the southwestern city of Bordeaux. "We have to keep fighting for what we believe in and what we want for France."
Macron and his wife Brigitte cast their ballots in Le Touquet in northern France. On Monday, the French president plans to convene a government meeting to decide the next course of action, sources have said.
Most polls show the RN party on course to win the largest number of seats in the National Assembly, parliament's lower house -- although it remains unclear if it will secure an outright majority.
Final opinion polls have given the RN between 35 percent and 37 percent of the vote -- against 27.5-29 percent for the left-wing New Popular Front alliance, and 20-21 percent for Macron's centrist camp.
If the RN obtains an absolute majority, party chief Jordan Bardella, Le Pen's 28-year-old protege with no governing experience, could become prime minister in a tense "cohabitation" with Macron. Many analysts say that France is facing a hung Assembly, which could lead to deadlock and political instability.
Voters in France's overseas territories had cast ballots earlier in the weekend. Electors lined up to cast ballots in France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia, where tensions remain high following deadly riots there last month.
Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, Greens party leader Marine Tondelier and former prime minister and Macron ally Edouard Philippe were among the first high-profile politicians to vote. — AFP
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