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Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party emerged victorious in the first round of France’s surprise general election on Sunday, according to the Ministry of Interior data. The RN, founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine Le Pen’s father, secured about 19% of the registered vote. The opposition Union of the Left came in second with 18.19%, while Ensemble, which includes President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, followed with 13.02%.
The final round of voting will be held on July 7.
These results echo RN’s previous victory in the European Parliament elections, which led to Macron’s decision to call this election at short notice. Despite the outcome, Macron has stated he does not plan to resign. However, if his party fails to secure a 289-seat majority, passing legislation could become more challenging.
Mark Foster, the EU policy lead at the Crypto Council for Innovation, remarked on the election’s impact, saying, “It’s difficult to say what will happen next week, but what’s clear is that Macron’s gamble seems at this stage to have backfired. He had hoped that RN would not do as well in legislative elections as in the European ones, but they actually got a higher score. It looks like the new parliament will have much larger far-left and far-right contingents, making domestic policy development (including on crypto/digital assets) uncertain and difficult whilst limiting the president’s authority on international and European stages.”
The RN, now led by Jordan Bardella while Marine Le Pen heads the parliamentary party, aims to cut funding to the European Union, reduce immigration, abolish birthright citizenship, and expel foreign offenders. The party has been accused of fostering xenophobia and anti-Semitism.
The first round of the election eliminates candidates who do not secure at least 12.5% of the locally registered vote. The second round will feature the remaining candidates in each constituency.
France has made significant strides in the crypto sector. Last year, the country registered 74 crypto companies, with expectations to increase that number to 100. Regulators have been actively trying to attract more crypto businesses.
The European Union’s Markets in Crypto Asset (MiCA) legislation, which includes measures for stablecoins, was passed last year. While the stablecoin rules have already taken effect, the rest of the legislation is expected to be implemented by the end of the year. France’s pre-existing rules for the crypto sector are anticipated to give it an advantage in implementing MiCA.
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