Second-round shock: Le Pen's National Rally falls to third

The second round of French elections has concluded. Exit poll results indicate that the first-round winner, National Rally, suffered an unexpected defeat. Le Pen's party found itself in third place.

In the first round of parliamentary elections, candidates from the far-right National Rally (RN) received the most votes. In the second round, Marine Le Pen's party aimed to secure enough seats in parliament to form a government.

Did they succeed? The New People's Front and parties allied with Macron withdrew their candidates in many districts to avoid splitting the vote and prevent RN from gaining an outright majority. All indications suggest that it was an effective maneuver.

According to an exit poll by Elabe for bfm.tv, the left-wing New People's Front won the elections, securing between 175 and 205 deputies. The great victor of the first round, National Rally, ultimately found itself in third place, obtaining between 115 and 150 seats. The centrist parties grouped around Macron took second place and can expect to win between 150 and 175 seats.

Similar exit poll results are reported by other television stations. According to IFOP estimates for TF1, the New People's Front may win 180-215 parliamentary seats, while an Ipsos poll for France TV predicts 172-215 seats for the leftist bloc. An Opinionway poll for C News TV indicated that the New People's Front would secure 180-210 seats.

According to all these polls, the centrist bloc of President Emmanuel Macron narrowly overtook Marine Le Pen's National Rally in the battle for second place.

No party achieved an outright majority, which would allow them to independently form a government, i.e., 289 seats.

The French Interior Ministry is expected to announce the official election results later tonight.