There is one big winner from this evening’s exit polls for the first round of the French legislative elections – and several big losers. Exit polls by Elabe for BFMTV confirm the last opinion polls before votes were cast and so far the winner is the Rassemblement National.

A third of voters cast a ballot for an RN candidate or allies which, if today’s results are confirmed in the second round, would mean the RN has a fighting chance of forming a working government from 7 July on a predicted 260-310 seats (outright majority: 289). However, seat projections come with an enormous caveat. Given one of the largest turnouts for nearly fifty years, there are several constituencies with potentially three candidates (triangulaires) still standing for the second round (for which the bar is 12.5 per cent of eligible voters) and there will be an all-out push to block the RN candidate across the rest of the political spectrum.

But the New Popular Front’s performance could also be considered a good score with 28.5 per cent (115-145 seats), well ahead of President Macron’s grouping on 22 per cent (90-120 seats) and the rump Parti Republicain on 10.5 per cent. They are likely to be a........

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