French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a meeting with members of the AI sector at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, France, on May 21, 2024.
Yoan Valat | Afp | Getty Images
French President Emmanuel Macron said he would dissolve the country’s parliament and call for a new legislative election after suffering a heavy defeat in EU elections on Sunday.
Exit polls published by public broadcaster France TV indicated that Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) is set to win around 31.5% of the vote, compared to 15.2% for Macron’s Renaissance party.
The blow led the French leader to call for a surprise parliamentary election, with the first round on June 30 and the second round on July 7.
“I will … not be able, at the end of this day, to act as if nothing had happened,” Macron said in a TV address, according to a translation by CNBC.
It comes after polls closed on the final, and biggest, day of voting in elections for members of European Parliament, with populist, far-right parties winning record support, according to early data.
The center-right European People’s Party (EPP) is once again projected to win the most parliamentary seats, however, with slightly more seats than before.
This is a developing story and will be updated shortly.
— CNBC’s Charlotte Reed contributed to this report.
