President Emmanuel Macron has said he will dissolve France’s National Assembly and he also called for a snap election following Marine le Pen’s far right party winning twice as many votes than his party.
In elections to the European Parliament, Marine le Pen’s far right National Rally party won about 32% of the vote – a 10-point increase on the last EU election in 2019. It is also more than double the 15% taken by Mr Macron’s Renaissance party, according to exit polls.
The French president said he could not “pretend nothing had happened” and admitted the EU election was “no good” for his government. The “rise of nationalists” is a danger to France and to Europe, he said.
Ms Le Pen said her party was “ready to take overpower if the French give us their trust in the upcoming national elections”.