Hordes of French voters delivered a surprise defeat to the country's far right and gave leftist candidates the most seats in the National Assembly — but not an outright majority, leading pollsters said Sunday.
The projected results of the snap elections mean centrist President Emmanuel Macron has lost control of parliament and faces the prospect of a new prime minister opposed to most of his domestic policies, according to the Associated Press.
Various polling organizations said the New Popular Front coalition — which comprises hard leftists, Socialists and Greens normally at odds with each other — would win 172 to 215 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly, Reuters reported.
Macron's centrist Together alliance was expected to place second, with 150 to 180 seats, followed by the far right National Rally party, with 115 to 155 seats.
The pollsters' projections are generally reliable, Reuters said.
Turnout for Sunday's second and final round of voting was remarkably high, with 59.7% of eligible voters arriving at the polls three hour before they closed, the most recorded at that time since 1981.
The outcome marked a huge setback for the National Rally party, which was projected to easily place first before opposition deal-making led scores of leftist candidates to withdraw from their races.
That forced head-to-head faceoffs between individual leftists and National Rally candidates, who failed to score a victory but still won more seats than their party has ever held.
National Rally member Jordan Bardella, who was slated to become the country's youngest prime minister if his party won a majority, called the political machinations a "disgraceful alliance" that he said would paralyze the French government.
"I say tonight with gravity that depriving millions of French people of the possibility of seeing their ideas brought to power will never be a viable destiny for France," the 28-year-old warned during a somber speech to supporters.
Bardella also accused Macron, who called for the elections after his party was trounced last month during voting for the European Parliament, of "pushing France into uncertainty and instability."
France Unbowed party founder Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the most prominent leftist leader in the New Popular Front, called the results of the bitterlly fought elections an "immense relief for a majority of people in our country."
In a statement, Marcon's office said he would wait before making any decisions on a new government and would ensure that the "sovereign choice of the French people will be respected."
The new National Assembly is scheduled to convene on July 18, just days before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris.
