AFP:As the first projections showed the left in the lead of France’s parliamentary polls, against all expectations, a large crowd of left-wing activists erupted in joy in Paris.
“I’m really happy, there’s this crazy energy and I’m getting the chills,” said Marie Delille, a philosophy student, in the capital’s Stalingrad Square.
“It feels good right now, but we’re still waiting for the final results,” she added at the gathering of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party.
Many French voters had feared the anti-immigration, Eurosceptic National Rally (RN) party would seize the largest portion of parliament’s seats.
But early projections put a broad left-wing alliance including LFI ahead in the race with 177 to 198 seats, in front of both President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance with 152 to 169 seats and the RN with 135 to 145. Nearby, fellow LFI activist Dalil Diab was also visibly moved.