France will hold the first round of early elections to the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, on Sunday.
Polling stations mostly opened at 08:00 local time (09:00 Kiev time), the end of voting at most polling stations will take place by 18:00 (19:00 Kiev time), however, in some cities and departments the schedule of polling stations may differ. In particular, in major cities, including Paris, the French will be able to cast their vote until 20:00 (21:00 Kiev time).
The first results are expected to appear after 20:00 local time (21:00 Kiev time).
Voters will have to elect 577 parliamentarians, with 289 seats needed for an absolute majority.
According to the procedure, if a candidate wins a majority of votes in the first round with a turnout of more than 25%, he or she immediately gets a seat in parliament. If no candidate is elected, there is a second round.
As a rule, one round is not enough to determine the winner of the French parliamentary elections. This time the second round is scheduled for July 7.
In the elections there is a bloc of left-wing parties called “New Popular Front”, the coalition “Together”, including, in particular, the party “Renaissance”, founded by Macron, as well as the right-wing party “Republicans”. The main intrigue of the election, however, is how many seats the far-right Rassemblement Nationale party, affiliated with Marine Le Pen, which won France’s European Parliament elections earlier this month, will be able to win.
According to the latest pre-election polls, Rassemblement Nationale can count on nearly 40 percent of the vote in the first round, which could give the party between 250 and 280 seats in the lower house, while 289 seats are needed for an absolute majority. A coalition of the Left is likely to come in second place, while the Together coalition is likely to come in third.
Early elections in France are being held after French President Macron’s Renaissance party lost to the far-right Rassemblement Nationale in the June 9 European Parliament elections. On the same day, the French leader announced the dissolution of the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, and called early parliamentary elections.
Earlier the analytical center Experts Club presented an analytical material about the most important elections in the countries of the world in 2024, more detailed video analysis is available here – https://youtu.be/73DB0GbJy4M?si=eGb95W02MgF6KzXU.
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