Marine Le Pen now closer to power than ever as party wins first round of election

Marine Le Pen, French far-right leader and far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally - RN) party candidate, gestures during the first round of the early French parliamentary elections, in Henin-Beaumont, France. Photo: Reuters

Benoit van Overstraeten and Layli Foroudi

Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party won the first round of France’s parliamentary elections yesterday, exit polls showed, but the final result will depend on days of horse-trading before next week’s run-off.

The RN was seen winning around 34pc of the vote, exit polls from Ipsos, Ifop, OpinionWay and Elabe showed.