ANKARA: Exit polls suggest the left-wing coalition is leading in Sunday’s French parliamentary elections, with its leader celebrating the projected victory and calling on the president to acknowledge “defeat.”

“Our people voted consciously,” Jean-Luc Melenchon, founder and member of the La France Insoumise party (France Unbowed, or LFI) said at a news conference in Paris, according to Anadolu Agency (AA).

Projections based on estimations by the surveying company Ifop, reported by Le Figaro, indicate the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) could secure 180 to 215 seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

The centrist alliance, Together for the Republic, supported by President Macron, ranked second with an estimated 150 to 180 seats, while Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) are projected to gain 120 to 150 seats.

The National Assembly comprises 577 seats, and none of these three primary blocs are expected to achieve an absolute majority of 289 seats.

A 12-hour voting process concluded at 8 pm local time (1800 GMT), with over 43 million registered voters casting their ballots in the second round of elections.

Voters began heading to polling stations at 8 am (0600 GMT) to elect the remaining 501 members of the National Assembly for a five-year term. Seventy-six candidates were elected in the first round.

In the initial round, the RN secured 29.26 percent of the vote (37 seats), a rate that rises to over 33 percent when combined with its allies. The NFP garnered 28.06 percent (32 seats), while the centrist Together for the Republic alliance, backed by President Macron, finished third with slightly over 20.04 percent (two seats).

Macron dissolved the parliament and called for early elections after the RN captured more than 31% of the vote in the European Parliament elections on June 9, defeating his centrist bloc. - Bernama, Anadolu