Official results from the Interior Ministry confirm that the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) is the biggest electoral alliance in parliament after the second and final round of voting on July 7.
The second round vote saw a shock win for the left-wing alliance of the NFP, which along with President Macron’s centrist alliance of Ensemble ! agreed to work together to prevent the far right from winning a parliamentary majority.
According to this electoral truce known as the ‘front republicain’, the third placed candidate would withdraw from the election in order to bolster the chances of the remaining candidate against the Rassemblement National candidate by not diluting the opposition vote.
The tactic was ultimately successful.
Although the RN won 33.14% of the vote in the second round - around 10.6 million votes (as in the first round) - it came third behind the left-wing alliance of the Nouveau Front Populaire and the centrist alliance of Ensemble !.
The major cities of Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse and Bordeaux all voted predominantly in favor of the NFP, as did vast swathes of the north-west and south-west France.
The only major city to vote for the RN was its traditional bastion of Nice. Indeed, the crescent of the Mediterranean coast largely voted for the far-right party, with Montpellier (Hérault) remaining the only major left-wing holdout.
President Macron's Ensemble ! alliance performed better than expected in the election, and despite losing 80 seats remains the second biggest group in parliament, in large part thanks to its hold over much of north-west France and Brittany.
