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		</div><p>Voting opened in France for the second round of high-stake parliamentary elections that have already seen the largest gains ever for the country’s far-right National Rally party.</p>
<p>French President Emmanuel Macron took a huge gamble in dissolving parliament and calling for the elections after his centrists were trounced in European elections on June 9.</p>
<p>The first round on June 30 saw the largest gains ever for the anti-immigration, nationalist National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen.</p>
<p>Sunday’s vote determines which party controls the National Assembly and who will be prime minister.</p>
<p>If support is further eroded for Mr Macron’s weak centrist majority, he will be forced to share power with parties opposed to most of his pro-business, pro-European Union policies.</p>
<p>Racism and antisemitism have marred the electoral campaign, along with Russian cybercampaigns, and more than 50 candidates reported being physically attacked — highly unusual for France.</p>
<p>The government is deploying 30,000 police on voting day.</p>
<figure id="attachment_183518" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-183518" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/546F28ED-E866-478C-841D-3DA482827E52.webp" alt="" width="640" height="427" class="size-full wp-image-183518" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-183518" class="wp-caption-text">Mr Macron’s move to tackle the far-right in a national election is a risky move</figcaption></figure>
<p>The heightened tensions come while France is celebrating a very special summer: Paris is about to host exceptionally ambitious Olympic Games, the national football team reached the semi-final of the Euro 2024 championship, and the Tour de France is racing around the country alongside the Olympic torch.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, 49 million voters are in the midst of the country’s most important elections in decades.</p>
<p>France could have its first far-right government since the Nazi occupation in the Second World War if the National Rally wins an absolute majority and its 28-year-old leader Jordan Bardella becomes prime minister.</p>
<p>The party came out on top in the previous week’s first-round voting, followed by a coalition of centre-left, hard-left and Green parties, and Mr Macron’s centrist alliance.</p>
<p>The outcome remains highly uncertain.</p>
<p>Polls between the two rounds suggest that the National Rally may win the most seats in the 577-seat National Assembly but fall short of the 289 seats needed for a majority.</p>
<p>That would still make history, if a party with historic links to xenophobia and downplaying the Holocaust, and long seen as a pariah, becomes France’s biggest political force.</p>
<p>If it wins the majority, Mr Macron would be forced to share power in an awkward arrangement known in France as “cohabitation”.</p>
<p>Another possibility is that no party has a majority, resulting in a hung parliament.</p>
<p>That could prompt Mr Macron to pursue coalition negotiations with the centre-left or name a technocratic government with no political affiliations.</p>
<p>Regardless of what happens, Mr Macron said he will not step down and will stay president until his term ends in 2027.</p>
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