Against all the odds and polls, the French far-right party National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, landed in third place in the second round of the French snap election.  And in a runner-up upset for President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ensemble alliance, the left-wing alliance New Popular Front took the lead with 182 seats. 

In this special episode, Mark Leonard welcomes the head of ECFR Paris and senior policy fellow Célia Belin to discuss the unexpected results of this snap election. What changed between the first and second round that led to such drastically different results? How are parties organising themselves within their electoral alliances? What are the coalition options for this new distribution in the National Assembly and who is the leading choice for prime minister?  

Bookshelf  

Ravage, by René Barjavel 

Represent, directed by Francois Uzan and Jean-Pascal Zadi