EXIT polls suggest disaster for Macron and a shock defeat for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), while France looks set to have a suspended parliament.
Current polls indicate that the left-wing coalition is likely to take first place, marking a major reduction in expectations for the far right.
Several other polls, including France’s largest private channel, TF1, predict that Marine Le Pen’s party may have come in second place.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the radical left party France Insubmissa, the largest of the left-wing New Front Popular (NFP) coalition, addressed his supporters following the results of the exit polls.
He said: “The far right is far from the majority tonight… The election result is the result of a magnificent mobilization effort.
“The president has to bow down and admit this is a defeat… the prime minister needs to go.”
Current President Emmanuel Macron’s party and its allies fell behind in the polls when Marine Le Pen’s National Rally won the first round of legislative elections on Sunday.
His party achieved 33% of the votes, while the left-wing Nova Frente Popular came in second place, with 28%.
Macron’s centrist bloc trailed with just 20 percent, the Interior Ministry said.
The current Prime Minister of France, Gabriel Attal, said that the far right is at the “gates of power”.
Macron took a gamble by calling early elections last month – which appears to have backfired.
An additional 30,000 police officers were deployed across the country, with around 5,000 of them stationed in Paris.
It comes after hundreds of left-wing protesters flooded the streets and clashed with police in Paris while setting off fireworks and rockets.
Dozens of protesters also climbed Place de la Republique as police and firefighters tried to quell tensions.
Dramatic images show raging fires and broken shop windows.
Police fired tear gas as firefighters tried to put out the flames.
France has not been under far-right leadership since World War II, when Philippe Pétain and his prime minister Pierre Laval headed the Vichy regime that collaborated with the Nazis.
At least 289 are needed to obtain an absolute majority in the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament.
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