A poll has projected French President Emmanuel Macron is set to suffer “big losses” in the snap parliamentary election while his rival Marine Le Pen could make unprecedented gains.
French outlet Challenges has released a new poll which forecasts a hung parliament with the National Rally the largest party.
Le Pen’s party would move to between 235-265 seats in the National Assembly, up from 88, while the centrist alliance led by Macron would end up with just 125-155 seats.
Macron’s Renaissance Party currently has 169 seats. The other two parties in the coalition (Democratic Movement and Horizon) add an additional 80 to the alliance.
The National Rally was polled to secure 34 percent of the vote while Ensemble languished at 19 percent, behind the left-wing New Ecological and Social People’s Union (NUPES) on 22 percent.
READ MORE: Macron calls snap election after France turns on him in crushing defeat
Summarising the poll on X, Sophie Pedder of The Economist said: “Big gains for Le Pen’s RN, but not majority. Big losses for Macron’s centrist alliance Ensemble.”
The far-right opposition won about 32% of the European Parliament vote while Macron’s party won just 15 percent.
Announcing the shock vore, Macron said he could not “pretend nothing had happened” while warning France of the “rise of nationalists.”
The decision is widely seen as a huge gamble for Macron as he could spend the next three years of his term in office unable to affect the domestic agenda, only dictating foreign and defence policy.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told RTL radio: “This will be the most consequential parliamentary election for France and for the French in the history of the Fifth Republic.”
Eurasia Group told Reuters that a National Rally majority is possible but that a hung parliament is more likely.
They said: “Faced with another hung parliament, (Macron) will try to form a wider alliance with the centre-right or centre-left, possibly by appointing a prime minister from one of those camps.
“We foresee a losing struggle for serious domestic reform or strict deficit reduction in the remaining three years of Macron’s term.
“Emmanuel Macron has taken an enormous gamble, with his own reputation and legacy and the future of France.”