Macron takes beating from Le Pen in snap election first round: What happens next?

Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally secured 33% of the vote in the first round of France's parliamentary elections, ITV News' Europe Editor James Mates reports.

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party has dealt Emmanuel Macron another blow after leading the first round of France's parliamentary elections, taking it closer to power than ever before.

The country's President Emmanuel Macron called the surprise elections just three weeks ago and is urging voters to rally against the far right.

In an unusually high turnout, National Rally clinched 33.15% of the vote, while the left-wing New Popular Front coalition came second with 27.99% and Macron's Ensemble alliance slumped to third on 20.76%.

The outcome could lead to the country's first far-right government since the Nazi occupation of France during the Second World War or a situation where no majority emerges.

The far-right National Rally – previously known as the National Front – is hoping to capitalise on its majority victory over President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance Party in the European Parliament elections in early June.

Three major political blocs are running: The National Rally and its allies, President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance Ensemble and the left-wing coalition New Popular Front.

While the far-right party dominates in the polls, the outcome of the vote, following the second round on July 7, remains uncertain.

How do France's elections work?

Elections in France are somewhat more complex than the UK's first-past-the-post system, with voting split into two rounds.

Under the nation's two-round system, legislators are elected by district. A candidate would have needed over 50% of the vote to be elected outright on Sunday. If that is not achieved another round is needed.

If all candidates fail to receive a majority vote, the top two contenders alongside any who gain enough votes from more than 12.5% of voters will go forward to the second round.

The results of this election decide the number of seats each party will receive in the National Assembly, which is the lower and more powerful of France's two houses of parliament, as well as who will become the prime minister. The Assembly has the final say in the law-making process over the Senate.

The presidency is not being decided in this election.

Macron has a presidential mandate until 2027 and has said he would not step down before the end of his term.

Sometimes, three or four people advance to the second round, but some may choose to step aside in order to increase the chances of another competitor.

This tactic has been frequently used in the past by the left and centrists to prevent far-right candidates from winning.

Party leaders are expected to reveal their political strategies in between the two rounds, making the result of the second round highly unpredictable as it depends on political manoeuvring and voters' reaction.

The National Rally hopes to win an absolute majority of 289 out of the 577 seats in the National Assembly.

To the dismay of the left and centrists, the National Rally may make major gains in the Assembly if opinion polls translate into votes.

Who are the key players?

Who are the candidates the political blocs are offering to be the next prime minister of France?

• Gabriel Attal

Macron’s protégé and the youngest prime minister in French history, at the age of 34, Gabriel Attal is hoping to maintain his position.

• Jordan Bardella

Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old handpicked by Marine Le Pen to lead the National Rally in 2022, could potentially break Attal's record as the youngest French prime minister.

Le Pen, the former leader of the far-right party, stepped down ending the party's 50-year rule by her family in an attempt to detoxify the party from its antisemitic and jackbooted past.

• New Popular Front

It is unclear who the bloc would nominate as prime minister. The potential candidates include Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the France Unbowed Party, and Raphaël Glucksmann from Place Publique.

Why did Macron call the snap election?

Macron's party was heavily defeated by the National Rally earlier this month in the EU elections, receiving fewer than half the votes won by Le Pen's party, and only narrowly surpassing the left-wing coalition, which came in third.

In the wake of his party's disappointing results, Macron called a snap election, becoming the first president to do so since 1997.

The president's motive for this decision is unclear: some say France might soon have been forced to go to the polls anyway, while others have surmised that Macron hoping to defeat extremist parties by exposing them to the government.

If Macron manages to come out victorious and prevent a far-right government he will go down as a “brilliant strategist” - but if he fails he could change the course of French politics.

“If his bet pays off, he’ll go down as a brilliant strategist,” Kevin Arceneaux, a political scientist at Sciences Po University in Paris, told CNN.

“If not, I think he will go down in history as somebody who essentially exploded the traditional party system in France, and… took a grenade to the institutions of the Fifth Republic.”

What could the outcome be?

If a political party other than his centrist alliance obtains a majority, Macron will be required to appoint a prime minister from the biggest party.

In this situation, known as "cohabitation" in France, the government would pursue policies that are different from the president's plan.

There have been three cohabitations, the most recent one occurring under conservative president Jacques Chirac who led alongside socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin from 1997 to 2002.

The prime minister is answerable to the parliament, leads the government, and introduces bills.

If no party wins the majority vote, there will be a hung parliament. In this scenario, the president will appoint a prime minister from the group that has the most seats in the National Assembly, which could be the National Rally.

Bardella already said it would reject that option as it would mean a far-right government could be overthrown through a no-confidence vote if other political parties join together.

The president could try to build a broad coalition from the left to the right, though it is unlikely.

Experts say another complex option would be to appoint “a government of experts” unaffiliated with political parties but which would still need to be accepted by a majority at the National Assembly.

Such a government would likely deal mostly with day-to-day affairs rather than implementing major reforms.

One possible solution suggested by experts is to establish a non-partisan "government of experts" that would need to be approved by a majority in the National Assembly.

This kind of government would focus on managing daily matters rather than implementing significant reforms.

Have you heard our new podcast Talking Politics? Every day in the run-up to the election Tom, Robert and Anushka dig into the biggest issues dominating the political agenda…