Macron dissolves French parliament amid right-wing gains in EU elections
French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved his country’s parliament and called early elections as EU exit polls showed a historic lead for right-wing parties in France.
French President Emmanuel Macron has dissolved his country’s parliament and called a snap election later this month, as EU exit polls projected a landslide victory for his rival Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in European Parliament elections.
Exit polls showed far-right parties gaining ground in Germany and Austria after three days of voting ended on Sunday across the EU’s 27 member states.
According to exit polls, the far-right party is expected to get 32% of the vote, more than double the president’s Renaissance Party.
Macron announced in his address to the nation that the first round of elections for the lower house, the National Assembly, would be held on June 30, and the second round on July 7.
Here are the latest top developments
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The first estimated results from France show the far-right National Rally party far ahead in the EU parliamentary elections, with Macron’s pro-Europe centrists facing defeat, according to French opinion polling institutes.
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Following the expected defeat, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the dissolution of parliament and called for early elections.
The assembly elections will be held in two phases, on June 30 and July 7.
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Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, nationalist party is projected to get around 31-32% of the vote, double the share of Macron’s Renaissance Party, which is projected to get around 15%.
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An exit poll shows Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party, which is in coalition with the country’s Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP), has come out on top with 43.7% of the vote, CNN reports.
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Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has resigned following his party’s crushing defeat in Sunday’s national and European parliamentary elections, according to CNN.
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The movement’s leader Marine Le Pen warned on Sunday that France’s far-right bloc was “ready to take power” after French President Emmanuel Macron announced early parliamentary elections.
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Exit polls showed that far-right parties could win around 150 of the 720 seats in Parliament.
The right-wing tilt within the European Parliament could make it harder to pass new legislation that might be needed to respond to security challenges, the effects of climate change or industrial competition from China and the United States.
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