Initial Outcome of the 2024 Legislative Elections: National Rally Leads, New Popular Front Follows

Following the initial round of early legislative elections, the National Rally and its coalition (LR-Ciotti) secured the top spot nationally with 33.15% of the vote, as reported by the Ministry of the Interior on Monday, July 1. The New Popular Front, an alliance of left-wing parties including La France Insoumise, the Socialist Party, Place Publique, Les Ecologistes, and the French Communist Party, followed closely in second place with 27.99% of the vote.

The candidates of the presidential majority, running under the banner “Together for the Republic” (Renaissance, Horizons, and MoDem), came in third with 21.27% of the nationwide votes. Les Républicains secured fourth place with 6.57%, while candidates from the “Diverse right” garnered 3.66% of the votes.

Voter turnout was robust for this first round, reaching 66.71%. This marks the highest turnout since the first round of the 2002 legislative elections, which had a turnout of 64.4%, contrasting with a declining trend since 1993 (68.9%).

76 candidates were elected outright on Sunday, June 30, having each secured over 50% of the votes, representing at least 25% of registered voters. Notable victories included 37 candidates from the National Rally, such as Marine Le Pen (58%) in Pas-de-Calais and the defeat of the Communist Party leader, Fabien Roussel, in the North. The Republicans aligned with Eric Ciotti also celebrated a victory in Alpes-Maritimes.

Additionally, the New Popular Front won 32 constituencies, with figures like Insoumis candidate Manuel Bompard in Marseille (67.5%) and Mathilde Panot (59.3%) in Val-de-Marne. Notable re-elections included Socialist Party’s First Secretary Olivier Faure in Seine-et-Marne (53.4%) and Parisian Socialist deputy mayor Emmanuel Grégoire (50.9%), who defeated former minister Clément Beaune in the seventh district of Paris.

Looking ahead to the second round, scheduled for Sunday, July 7, these elections will determine the composition of the National Assembly and the future French government, as 577 deputies are at stake. The threshold for an absolute majority is 289 seats.

The focus now turns to potential triangular contests in the second round and candidate withdrawals. Candidates have until Tuesday, 6 p.m., to confirm their participation with the Ministry of the Interior, following a call by President Emmanuel Macron after the European elections on June 9.