(30 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Paris, France – 30 June 2024
1. Various of French far-left La France Insoumise party leader Jean-Luc Melenchon preparing to cast ballot during vote
2. Melenchon casting ballot
3. Melenchon leaving and walking away
STORYLINE:
The leader of the far-left La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party Jean-Luc Melenchon voted on Sunday in the first round of parliamentary elections that could put the government in the hands of nationalist, far-right parties for the first time since the Nazi era.
A new coalition on the left, the New Popular Front, also poses a challenge to the pro-business French President Emmanuel Macron and his centrist alliance Together for the Republic.
It includes the French Socialists and Communists and the hard-left France Unbowed party and vows to reverse a deeply unpopular pension reform law that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, among other economic reforms.
The outcome of the two-round elections, which will wrap up July 7, could impact European financial markets, Western support for Ukraine and how France’s nuclear arsenal and global military force are managed.
Many French voters are frustrated about inflation and economic concerns, as well as Macron’s leadership, which they see as arrogant and out-of-touch with their lives.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally party has tapped that discontent, notably via online platforms like TikTok, and dominated pre-election opinion polls.
There are 49.5 million registered voters who will choose 577 members of the National Assembly, France’s influential lower house of parliament, during the two-round voting.
Turnout at midday at the first round stood at 25.9% according to interior ministry figures, higher than the 18.43% at midday during 2022 legislative elections.
The vote takes place during the traditional first week of summer vacation in France, and absentee ballot requests were at least five times higher than in the 2022 elections.
The first polling projections were expected at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT), when the final polling stations close.
Early official results were expected later Sunday night.
AP video shot by Oleg Cetinic
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