PARIS (AP) — Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said on Monday that her party’s extraordinary surge in the country’s parliamentary election is a “historic victory” and a “seismic event” in French politics.
Many voters in Sunday’s poll opted for far-right or far-left candidates, denying President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance a straight majority in the National Assembly.
Le Pen’s National Rally got 89 seats in the 577-member parliament, up from a previous total of eight. On the other side of the political spectrum, the leftist Nupes coalition, led by hardliner Jean-Luc Melenchon, won 131 seats to become the main opposition force.