PARIS—The French extreme-right anti-immigrant and euroskeptic Rassemblement National (National Rally) led by Marine Le Pen became the first party in France following Sunday EU elections.
Elections for the European Parliament’s 751 seats took place in the 28 EU member states.
Le Pen’s party, which beat French President Emmanuel Macron’s party, scored about 24 % of the vote compared to 22.5 % for Macron’s centrist-liberal party.
The electoral victory will give the party more seats within the nationalist-populist group in the European Parliament which is expected to make important gains also due to electoral gains expected in Italy for Matteo Salvini’s League.
“The French people have clearly punished the president tonight, and taught him a lesson in humility,” said Jordan Bardella, a 23-year-old Le Pen protégé who led the party list. “The European Union defended by the president of the Republic is disavowed tonight,” he added. “The EU must now give another orientation to its policy in terms of social issues, economy and migration.”
According to first projections of the 751 seats of the European Parliament, the two
main political groups in the parliament, the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Group of Socialists and Democrats (S&d) are losing around 40 seats and would loose their absolute majority in the assembly. The Liberal group (ALDE) gains around 30 seats. The Greens are also winners in various countries.