A historic chance for France's far right National Rally party as exit polls on Sunday placed it first, winning 34% of the first round of the legislative vote. The snap election was called by French President Emmanuel Macron last month after the National Rally beat his party in the European Parliamentary elections.
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00:00Cheers from France's far right, as the anti-immigrant National Rally Party, or RN, makes landmark
00:10gains to win the first round of parliamentary elections.
00:14Though stopping short of a majority, the party's leader, Jordan Bardella, doubled down on his
00:19pledge to aim for parliament's top seat in the second round.
00:23I intend to be a cohabiting prime minister, respectful of the constitution and the function
00:30of the President of the Republic, but intransigent on the policy that we will put in place in
00:35the service of France and in the service of the French."
00:38Saying the left has sent France into decline, RN supporters say this is a turning point
00:44for the country.
00:45We have to try for change, because we tried the right, we tried the left, and now we have
00:50to make a renewal and the big changes.
00:52It's the fault of the different governments, it's not just this government, all the previous
00:58governments let our country fall, and now it's time to straighten up our country, and
01:03I believe in RN for that."
01:06Exit polls on Sunday placed the RN in first, winning around 34% of the vote.
01:13Historic gains for the party.
01:15Newly established left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front, took 28%, while President
01:20Emmanuel Macron's Ensemble Alliance came third with 20%.
01:26In a shock decision, Macron called the snap election last month, after the RN beat his
01:32party in the European Parliament elections, saying he couldn't resign himself to the rise
01:37of far-right parties across the continent.
01:41With Macron's gamble possibly backfiring, protesters in Paris are calling to keep the
01:46RN from power.
01:47We have to fight, because I just had a child, three months ago, and I don't want her to
01:54live in this world, in a world with a government like this, with a government in power that
01:59respects minorities, that is intolerant, that pretends to be a government that will respect
02:04everything, that will respect the values of the Republic, and we don't believe that.
02:12Justice politicians are keeping hopes alive.
02:14With the second round of voting set for July 7th, Green Party leader Marine Tendelier says
02:19a victory for the left-wing coalition is still possible.
02:23A front against climate scepticism, a front against hatred, against intolerance, against
02:32violence, against stigmatization, against segregation.
02:40Macron has also called for a broad alliance against the far-right, as the RN will aim
02:45to win an absolute majority.
02:47If they do, it'd be the first time since World War II that a right-wing party takes power
02:53in France, and would also position the president and prime minister as rivals, a first for
02:59the country in two decades.
03:01Haua Zhang and Joyce Sun for Taiwan Plus.