France elections: High turnout seen as expats cast vote in snap polls; far-right eyes historic win

After calling for unexpected elections just three weeks ago, French President Emmanuel Macron cast his ballot on Sunday in the first round of the elections. The first round saw high voter turnout.

Macron took a great risk by dissolving the lower chamber of parliament following significant victories for the far right in European elections in early June.

The National Assembly's majority party and the prime minister will be chosen after two rounds of voting.

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Macron faces the risk of sharing power with groups that oppose most of his initiatives. The election is scheduled for the usual first week of summer vacation in France, and absentee ballot requests are at least five times higher than in the 2022 elections.

This election has three main political coalitions: Macron's centrist alliance, Le Pen's RN, and the New Popular Front. According to opinion surveys, RN is expected to secure at least 289 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly, or an absolute majority.

Watch | France Snap Elections: Far-right eyes power in historic first

President Emmanuel Macron surprised the country by calling the vote after his centrist coalition was defeated in European elections last month by Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN).

Her eurosceptic, anti-immigrant party has long been a pariah, but it is now closer to power than ever before.

The polling stations across mainland France opened at 8:00 AM (local time) and remained open for 12 hours. In smaller towns, the polls closed earlier, while in larger cities, they stayed open till later.

According to polls, the RN is comfortably ahead with 33%–36% of the public vote, followed by the New Popular Front in second place with 28%–31% and Macron’s centrist coalition in third place with 20%–23%.

The parties that make up the New Popular Front range widely, from the centrist, moderate parties to the hard-left, eurosceptic, anti-NATO party France Unbowed, which is led by Jean-Luc Melenchon, one of Macron's rival.

Given the nature of the election, it is difficult to predict how the polling results will be translated into seats in the National Assembly, according to Vincent Martigny, a political science professor at the Ecole Polytechnique and University of Nice.

(With inputs from agencies)