France is reeling after Marine Le Pen's National Rally won the first round of the parliamentary elections. Many are deeply concerned about the far-right party's potential impact on the country and the government. DW's Sonia Phalnikar reports from Paris.
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00:00There's only one thing the French media are talking about today and that's about this man,
00:06Jordan Badella, after the shock blocked the far-right, or this one, the far-right at the
00:13gates of power. Now Badella is the president of the far-right national rally and he could become
00:19the next prime minister of France if his party won an absolute majority in parliament, something
00:25that was considered unthinkable once in France but today is a distinct possibility.
00:31It's a scenario that has spooked some here in Paris where the party doesn't find much support.
00:39The far-right national rally and their allies are really scary for France,
00:44both for the present and the future. We've totally forgotten history.
00:49I'm really worried because if the national rally comes to power they have no competence
00:57in terms of ministers in order to govern France properly. They've built a program full of lies.
01:05If Jordan Badella wins he will show his incompetence. Finally people will realize
01:11it's not enough to just have rhetoric on immigration. That's not an economic or
01:16political program. The outcome of the election however is far from certain.
01:22Parties are drawing up strategies to block the far-right in this weekend's runoff.
01:28There is a chance that no party obtains a majority in France's parliament,
01:33something that could usher in even more political chaos.
01:39The risk is that France will become ungovernable. The extremes won't have the majority.
01:47We might have to vote again because the parliament could be dissolved yet again.
01:53Meanwhile voters are already mobilizing against the far-right.
01:57This demonstration in Paris was held right after the results of the first round elections,
02:02which the national rally won for the first time.
02:05Many here are worried about how France could change if the far-right comes to power.
02:10We need to mobilize and realize that the national rally is spreading hatred
02:14and pitting people against each other. It's really dangerous.
02:19I'm angry like all the young people here and just like a whole part of the population.
02:25The French will head back to the polls on Sunday
02:28in the second round of this nail-biting parliamentary election.