@washingtonpost: A far-right 28-year-old may be the next prime minister in France. French voters appeared to have boosted the prospects of the far right while potentially shattering the centrist alliance of President Emmanuel Macron, according to projections released after polls closed in the first round of French legislative elections on Sunday. Projections by France’s public broadcaster showed the far-right National Rally, guided by Marine Le Pen and her protégé, Jordan Bardella, comfortably securing the top spot with 33 percent of the national vote. An alliance of leftist parties, the New Popular Front, was in second, projected to garner 28 percent. Macron’s Together alliance lagged behind, with 21 percent. The projections showed National Rally narrowly falling short of a majority of seats. If it can expand its lead in the second round of voting on July 7, it could form the country’s first far-right government since World War II, with 28-year-old Bardella as prime minister, and replace Macron’s pro-Europe, pro-business agenda with its populist, euroskeptic and anti-immigration platform. Alternatively, a second-round result that doesn’t produce a clear majority could paralyze French politics. “The French crisis has only just started,” said Gérard Araud, a former French ambassador to the United States.

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Tuesday 02 July 2024 19:15:01 GMT