French President Emmanuel Macron calls a snap legislative election after defeat in EU vote

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, shakes hands with a polling station official during the European election on Sunday, June 9 in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, northern France. Photo / AP

French President Emmanuel Macron decided to dissolve the lower house of the parliament and called for new general elections after his party was handed a humbling defeat by the far-right at the European elections on Sunday.

The parliamentary election will take place in two rounds on June 30 and July 7.

Macron announced the move after the first projected results from France put the far-right National Rally party well ahead in the European Union’s parliamentary election, handing a chastening loss to Macron’s pro-European centrists, according to French opinion poll institutes.

Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, nationalist party is estimated to get around 31-32 per cent of the votes, a historic result more than double the share of Macron’s Renaissance party, which is projected to reach around 15 per cent.

Macron, who lost his majority at the National Assembly in 2022, is taking a big risk with the move that could backfire and increase the chances of Le Pen to eventually take power.

The French president said the decision was “serious” but showed his “confidence in our democracy, in letting the sovereign people have their say.”

“In the next few days, I’ll be saying what I think is the right direction for the nation. I’ve heard your message, your concerns, and I won’t leave them unanswered,” he said.

The initial indications are a hard blow for Macron, who has been advocating for Europe-wide efforts to defend Ukraine and the need for the EU to boost its own defenses and industry.

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The move comes as first projected results from France on Sunday put the far-right National Rally party well ahead in the European Union’s parliamentary election, defeating Macron’s pro-European centrists, according to French opinion poll institutes.

In Germany, support for Olaf Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats sank to a projected 14 per cent, behind the extreme-right Alternative for Germany, which surged into second place.

Millions of Europeans have been casting their ballots this week for a new European Parliament, the legislative branch of the 27-member trade bloc, in one of the world’s biggest democratic elections. Far-right parties were expected to gain more power amid a rise in the cost of living and farmers’ discontent, while the wars in Gaza and Ukraine are also key topics weighing on the minds of voters.

Exit polls results have been trickling in, but official results are not expected before the last polling stations in all 27 EU nations close late Sunday.