Emmanuel Macron's centrist camp and a left-wing alliance were on Monday battling to prevent the far right from taking an absolute majority and control of government in a historic first after the French president's gamble on early parliamentary elections backfired. The far-right National Rally (RN) party of Marine Le Pen won a resounding victory in the first round of the polls on Sunday, with Macron's centrists trailing in third place behind the left-wing New Popular Front coalition. Le Pen has asked voters to give her party an absolute majority during a second round of voting on July 7 so 28-year-old RN chief Jordan Bardella can become prime minister. But most projections show the RN falling short of an absolute majority, even though the final outcome remains far from certain. As France races to the final round of legislative elections that will determine France's defining political landscape for the next three years, FRANCE 24's François Picard is joined by François Hublet, Political Analyst, Editor-in-Chief of BLUE and PhD Candidate.
