The rise of the far right in France exposes deep divisions

For many, France feels like a very different place on Mondays.

The results of the first round of parliamentary elections, held on Sunday, showed a country deeply divided. A rising far-right has won a record number of votes and President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party is on the brink of collapse.

“The far right in power,” read the cover of Le Parisien, a daily newspaper, the morning after the first half of the early elections called by Mr Macron.

“Twelve million of our fellow citizens voted for a far-right party that is clearly racist and anti-Republican,” the left-wing newspaper Libération declared in an editorial, referring to Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party. “The head of state threw France under the bus, the bus drove on without slowing down and is now parked in front of the gates of Matignon” – the prime minister’s office.

If the National Rally wins an absolute majority in the second round on Sunday, Macron will be forced to appoint a prime minister from his ranks, who will in turn form a cabinet.

There was a sense of whiplash and disbelief at the political nosedive of Mr. Macron’s party, which with its allies holds the most seats but not an outright majority in the National Assembly. That centrist coalition finished a distant third in the first round of the two-round race. Only two of its candidates — and none of its ministers who ran — won enough votes to be re-elected without a runoff for their positions, compared with 37 members of the far-right Rassemblement National and 32 from the left-wing coalition of parties called the New Popular Front, who finished in second place.

The results of the first round of voting generally do not provide a reliable projection of the number of parliamentary seats each party will win. But the National Rally now seems very likely to be the biggest force in the powerful National Assembly. The question is whether it will get enough seats to gain an absolute majority.

If that does not happen, the National Assembly will most likely be ungovernable, with Macron’s centrist party and its allies squeezed between left and right and their power significantly diminished.

“End of an era,” read the front page of Les Echos, the leading business magazine.

“When historians look back on the dissolution, they will have only one word: disaster!” said an editorial in the conservative newspaper Le Figaro.

“Emmanuel Macron had everything, or almost everything,” it continued. “He lost everything.”

On the ground, the reaction to the vote reflected the divisions in the country. There were cheers in the north, which is seen as a stronghold of the far-right Rassemblement National.

“I’m going to party all night,” said Manuel Queco, 42, a contractor, at a local hall in the town of Hénin-Beaumont, where Ms Le Pen received one round of congratulations after another on Sunday evening after winning her own race had been elected. As the crowd of National Rally supporters erupted into a round of the national anthem, Mr. Queco raised his glass of champagne. “I’ve been waiting for them to win since I was 18 years old.”

In Paris, the results of the first round revealed an election map that had all but blocked the National Rassemblement, but was divided between the New Popular Front and the president’s party. Yet the prevailing feeling in the Place de la République, where thousands of leftists gathered on Sunday night, was one of sadness and pity.

“I never thought I would see this in my lifetime — the far right running the country,” said Camille Hemard, 50, a professor of Latin, Greek and French at an advanced preparatory college. She brought her 16-year-old daughter to seek solace in the crowd dancing and chanting, “Everyone hates the fascists.”

She added: “I was hoping my children wouldn’t know this.”

On the radio, televisions and news websites, pollsters reminded people that not all was decided. Only 76 of the 577 seats in the country’s parliament were won outright. A battle for the remaining 501 would begin this week, until the final vote on Sunday. The question many were asking was how many candidates would withdraw from the three-way race in a strategic move to block the far right from victory.

Official results published by the Ministry of the Interior showed that the National Rally and its allies won about 33 percent of the vote. Macron’s centrist Renaissance Party and its allies received about 20 percent, and the New Popular Front won about 28 percent of the vote.

Segolène Le Stradic contributed reporting from Hénin-Beaumont, France.