Far right wins first round in France election: exit polls

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) party won the first round of France's parliamentary elections Sunday, exit polls showed, but the final result will depend on days of horsetrading before next week's run-off.

The RN was seen winning around 34% of the vote, exit polls from Ipsos, Ifop, OpinionWay and Elabe showed.

That was ahead of leftist and centrist rivals, including President Emmanuel Macron's Together alliance, whose bloc was seen winning 20.5%-23%. The New Popular Front, a hastily assembled left-wing coalition, was projected to win around 29% of the vote, the exit polls showed.

The exit polls were in line with opinion polls ahead of the election, but provided little clarity on whether once next Sunday's second round is concluded the anti-immigrant, eurosceptic RN will be able to form a government to "cohabit" with the pro-EU Macron.

Experts say that seat projections after first-round votes can be highly inaccurate, and especially so in this election.

Voter participation was high compared with previous parliamentary elections, illustrating the political fervour Macron aroused with his stunning decision to call a parliamentary vote after the RN trounced his party in European Parliament elections earlier this month.

A week of political bargaining now lies ahead.

The final result will depend on how parties decide to join forces in each of France's 577 constituencies for the second round.