According to early forecasts, France's Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) party has taken the lead in the first round of French legislative elections, with President Emmanuel Macron's party sliding to third place.

According to IPSOS's preliminary estimates, the National Rally (RN), which leads the far-right alliance, is leading with 34 percent of the vote, followed by the left-wing alliance in second place with 28.1% and Macron's party in a distant third place with 20.3%.

Marine Le Pen Image Source:Euronews.com

Additionally, according to CNN, the predictions indicated that the RN will gain between 230 and 280 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly following the second round of voting on Sunday, falling short of the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority.

Macron's Ensemble and its allies would hold between 70 and 100 seats, while the left-wing alliance, the freshly established New Popular Front (NFP), would hold between 125 and 165 seats.

Ahead of the second round of voting on Sunday, the forecast suggested that the RN, from which Le Pen has attempted to eradicate the racism and antisemitism that spread under the decades-long leadership of her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, is closer to power than it has ever been.

Additionally, CNN noted that when the results were announced, the RN electoral party in the northern town of Henin Beaumont celebrated.

The process of choosing the 577 members of the National Assembly began on Sunday at 8 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET).

Three years ahead of the ordinary term, this election comes after Macron's Renaissance party suffered a major defeat in the recent European Parliament elections to which the RN prevailed.

Macron acknowledged the message of the public and promptly called for the first quick election in France since 1997 in response to this defeat, according to CNN.

Macron has pledged to stay in office until the following presidential election in 2027, regardless of the result of the poll.

There are two rounds to the election process: the first round, which now serves to narrow the field, and the second, in which candidates run to win the majority of votes required to win parliamentary seats. In order to go to the second round, where the results are finalized, candidates need to receive more than 12.5% of the vote, as reported by CNN.

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