Marine Le Pen’s far-Right National Rally party has won a major victory in the first round of French parliamentary elections.
Exit polls place the party on course to win around 34% of the vote, well ahead of their centre and left rivals.
The French President Emmanuel Macron political gamble in calling the snap election has spectacularly backfired. His Ensemble centrist alliance has suffered badly, expected to come third with around 20% of the vote. France’s left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front, had a stronger showing of around 28% according to the exit polls.
Celebrating her party’s success, Marine Le Pen said "democracy has spoken" as she declared that President Emmanuel Macron’s camp had been “practically wiped out”.
France now faces a second round of voting and the possibility of a far-Right government coming to power. However political rivals are already calling for an alliance against the National Rally. Left and centre party candidates who came third are expected to withdraw from the second round, in the hope of depriving Marine Le Pen’s party of power.
Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Andrew Harding.
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