The far-right party National Rally (RN) and its allies do not seem to be able to win an absolute majority in the French parliamentary election, according to a fresh survey reported by French and international media.
Party leader Marine Le Pen, chairman Jordan Bardella, and their allies are expected to get between 190 and 220 seats when the results of the second round of voting on Sunday become clear. This is significantly fewer than the assumptions after the first round of voting.
An absolute majority requires 289 of the 577 seats in parliament.
The left-wing alliance NFP is expected to get between 159 and 183 mandates, while President Emmanuel Macron's party RE is estimated to land on 110-135 mandates. To improve their chances of beating National Rally's candidates, left-wing and RE candidates who came third in the first round of voting have dropped out, in a kind of pact. The tactic is to allow voters who do not want to see Le Pen's candidates win to be able to vote for a "common" opposing candidate.
The right-wing party Republicans are expected to get 30 to 50 mandates.
