In the last hour, as the polls closed in France for the Assembly (legislative) elections it became clear that there may be a change in course. Early projections show that voters are moving away from the current President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party. This could mean a huge victory for the National Rally party. The second round of voting (run-off), which will be held on 7th July, is expected to show a shift in the voters’ preferences.

via Politico:

Early estimates from pollsters Ipsos indicate that the far-right National Rally will win 34 percent in Sunday’s election, while President Macron’s centrist coalition suffered staggering losses and came third with 20.3% of votes. Left-wing alliance scored a solid 28.1 percent.

Early projections based upon exit polls indicate that Le Pen’s party will get between 230 and 280 seats in the national assembly of 577 seats, while the alliance on the left is predicted to receive between 125-165, and Macron’s Coalition 70-100.

It is not known how many seats will be assigned to each party until the results of the elections and the negotiations between the three political parties are finalized in the next few days.

Macron continues to hold on to his fingers, urging his base to overtake the momentum of the National Rally going into the July run-off:

The French president urged “democratic” and “republican” forces to join together against Le Pen’s Party on Sunday. Macron stated, “We need to create a broad unity, which is democratic and republican, to prepare for the second round, when faced with the rise of the National Rally.” The high turnout shows that the election was important to our fellow citizens and they wanted to clarify the political climate.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally and the party’s organizer celebrates the news of the expected win:

Le Pen said that the French people had shown they wanted to put an end to seven years of disdainful [Macron] rule. She was speaking at a party in Henin Beaumont, a town located in Eastern France. She added, “We still haven’t achieved victory, but the second round is crucial… We need an absolute majority to allow Jordan Bardella to be named prime minister by Emmanuel Macron in eight days.”

Sky News reported slightly different results from Ipsos on the performance of each party in the first round.

National Rally won the first round with 33%. The New Popular Front, a left-wing party, came second with 29% and Mr Macron’s Renaissance Party was third with 22%.