BREAKING: French socialist alliance blocks Le Pen win

Exit polls show that Marine Le Pen's National Rally party is unlikely to defeat an alliance of left-wing parties in the second round of elections for France's legislative assembly held earlier today.

Earlier polls had indicated a potential right wing victory for Le Pen, however, left-wing votes strategically coalesced around the New Popular Front (NFP) in a last minute shift. Le Pen led an an explicitly anti-mass migration campaign and promised to cut aid to Ukraine. 

According to Ipsos exit polling, the NFP, a coalition of socialists, communists, greens and the leftist France Unbowed party, is set to take between 172 and 192 of the chamber’s 577 seats. No party has secured an absolute majority.

The snap elections were called by French President Emmanuel Macron after his party suffered a significant loss to Le Pen's in elections for the European Parliament. The first round of voting last Sunday only decided the fates of 76 out of 577 seats in the National Assembly, leaving the rest for run-offs. 

Jordan Bardella, president of the National Rally, said that while the party had made "the biggest breakthrough in its history,” electoral maneuvering had resulted in the party falling short of expectations. Centre and left-wing parties had pulled over 200 candidates after the first round of voting in an effort to consolidate votes and undermine the National Rally's chances of achieving an absolute majority.

Rebel News' Alexa Lavoie, reporting from Paris, was on the scene at the Place de la République, where far-left extremists, anti-Israel demonstrators and Antifa activists were rallying in support of the election results. 

This story is developing. You can see more of Alexa's reporting from France and follow for updates at FranceOnFire.com.

Sheila Gunn Reid

Chief Reporter

Sheila Gunn Reid is the Alberta Bureau Chief for Rebel News and host of the weekly The Gunn Show with Sheila Gunn Reid. She's a mother of three, conservative activist, and the author of best-selling books including Stop Notley.

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