Macron called elections in France and in the first round Le Pen’s party did very well indeed.

And I’d really like to see an article that doesn’t describe the party as “far right,” but I think that wish will continue to be frustrated:

Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) won the first round of legislative elections on Sunday, leaving incumbent president Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance lagging in third behind the left, projections by polling groups said.

The projections gave the RN 34% of the vote, compared to 29.1% for the left-wing New Popular Front alliance, and just 22% for Macron’s centrist camp.

Note that the New Popular Front alliance isn’t described as “far left.”

The election featured the highest level of voter turnout in a regular format legislative election in France since 1981.

The next round is July 7 and it’s unclear whether the National Rally party will get an outright majority. Note that the coverage – even in the Daily Mail, which isn’t a leftist newspaper – lumps Le Pen’s party in with the Nazis in that “far right” designation:

The vote could give 28-year-old RN party chief Jordan Bardella, a protege of its longtime leader Marine Le Pen, the chance to form a government, making it the first time the far-right takes the reins of power in France since the Nazi occupation during WWII.

The last far-right leaders of France were Philippe Pétai and his prime minister, Pierre Laval, who headed the Vichy regime that collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.

Twenty-eight years old is incredibly young. Who is Bardella? His Wiki entry indicates an eclectic background that might surprise you:

Jordan Bardella was born on 13 September 1995 in Drancy, Seine-Saint-Denis as the only child in a family of mostly Italian origin. The maternal side of his family immigrated to France from Turin in the 1960s. His paternal grandmother, a native of La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, is also partly of immigrant origin, with an Algerian father who came to France in the 1930s in Villeurbanne working as a labourer in the construction industry. His paternal grandfather later converted to Islam and married a Moroccan woman, settling in the Bourgogne district of Casablanca.

He’s a Sorbonne dropout who became seriously interested in politics at an early age:

In January 2016, Bardella launched the organization Banlieues Patriotes. The group sought to “break with the politics of the city and reach out to voters in the forgotten territories of the Republic.” …

Bardella puts the global migrant crisis as one of his top priorities besides climate. Bardella says that immigration would lead to the extinction of France, the French identity, French sovereignty, and “France’s soul”. … Shortly after the 2024 European parliament election, Bardella stated his intention of abolishing the birthright to citizenship … He also wants to ensure that border controls are stepped up to limit refugees’ freedom of movement. …

Jordan Bardella stressed that the environmental protection should not be left to the political left, but resorted to patriotism, confirming that it meant the protection of the people and their environment. With that statement he associates the climate crisis with the anti-immigrant stance of the RN, since he agrees with the left-wing party that the climate crisis will lead to an unstoppable global mass refugee crisis.

Bardella must obviously have some personal qualities that are very compelling:

Bardella has risen up the ranks of the euroskeptic and anti-immigration National Rally (Rassemblement National, or RN) to become its president in 2022, with his youth, looks and social-media savviness helping to attract younger voters. …

Bardella’s rise to prominence has taken place under the aegis of party figurehead, Marine Le Pen, with reports suggesting he came to her attention after he dated the daughter of her close friend and confidant, Frederic Chatillon. Indeed, reportedly within weeks of meeting Le Pen in 2017, he had been made a party spokesperson. …

Having a young and (some say) handsome political figurehead that’s popular on social media — Bardella has 1.6 million TikTok followers — has softened the party’s hard-right image and reputation, and has boosted the party’s profile and appeal among younger people and female voters. The phenomenon has even been termed “Bardella mania” as hundreds of young women attend campaign events to get a glimpse of the young politician on stage.

That’s quite a contrast to our current geriatric candidates. Kind of like a junior Justin Trudeau of the right (“far right,” of course).