Far-right RN leads in France's snap parliamentary elections: Exit polls

ANKARA

The far-right party leads in France’s snap parliamentary elections on Sunday, according to media reports.

Jordan Bardella’s National Rally (RN) got 34.2% of the votes, according to exit polls based on the surveying company Ifop’s estimations, the daily Le Figaro reported.

The “New Popular Front” gathering the left-wing parties received 29.1% and comes second for now, while the centrist alliance “Together for the Republic” backed by President Emmanuel Macron ranked third with 21.5% of votes.

A 12-hour-long voting process ended on Sunday where over 49 million registered voters cast their ballots in the snap parliamentary elections.

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0600GMT) across the country.

Voters headed to the polling stations to elect 577 members of the National Assembly, the lower chamber of parliament, for a five-year term.

Ifop also estimated the turnout at 67% at 8 p.m. (1800GMT).

President Macron dissolved parliament and announced snap elections after the RN swept more than 31% of the vote in the European Parliament elections on June 9, defeating his centrist bloc.

National parliamentary elections will be held in two rounds, with the second to take place on July 7.