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Four takeaways from French legislative elections

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Four takeaways from French legislative elections

Here are some of the key takeaways from the French snap legislative elections.

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For the second time in under a month, the ruling centrist coalition of French President Emmanuel Macron was dealt a heavy blow on Sunday by the far-right National Rally (RN) which secured the top position in the first round of the country’s snap legislative elections. 

Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called the snap election on 9 June after RN swept to victory in the European elections, obtaining more than double the number of votes Macron’s centrist coalition did.

Macron’s decision to call the election was described by commentators as either a ploy that could grant him the absolute majority he lost two years ago or a dangerous gamble that could see the far-right helm a government for the first time in the country.

Which is it? Euronews brings you the main takeaways from the first round.

Far-right makes historic gains

The National Rally (RN), led by 28-year-old Jordan Bardella, appears to have cemented its position as the country’s main political force by securing over 33% of the vote nationwide.

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If the score is confirmed next Sunday in the second round, the party could secure between 230 and 280 seats – just nine seats short of an absolute majority. 

Bardella pledged on Sunday that he would be “the prime minister for all the people of France … respectful of the opposition, open to dialogue and concerned at all times with the unity of the people” all while taking swipes at Macron’s alliance and the left-wing New Popular Front. 

The second round, he added, will be “one of the most decisive (votes) in the history of the Fifth Republic”.

The far-right’s gains in the first round marked a historic performance for the party in a legislative election.

In 2017, the then-called National Front gained 13% of the vote in the first round and 2022, they received 18% of the vote.

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Tara Varma, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, told Euronews that “what we see is that people are no longer ashamed to vote for the National Rally”.

“Not only are they no longer ashamed to do so, but they are no longer ashamed to say so,” she said.

While a scenario where the RN wins the absolute majority in parliament may not be the “most probable,” it cannot be “excluded,” she said.

Macron’s big loss

Three weeks after suffering a crushing defeat in the European elections, Macron’s centrist coalition, Ensemble, was dealt another devastating blow by coming in third with just 21% of the nationwide vote.

That’s 12 points and seven points below the far-right RN and the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition, respectively. 

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About 300 of its candidates are still in contention for a seat in the 577-seat hemicycle. But if its first-round score is confirmed next Sunday, it could mean the centrist coalition could shed as many as 180 seats and retain only between 70 and 100 MPs. 

Provided no other alliance gets an absolute majority, Macron could in theory try to form a ruling coalition but that might be a tall order.

The presidential camp has repeatedly rejected any notion of working with the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party with Macron himself saying that if the RN or LFI were to get into power, it could lead to “civil war”. 

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Parties that Macron could therefore try to rally for a more “moderate” coalition include the Socialists and the Greens on the left and the Republicans on the right.

But it’s unclear if they could find a landing zone or if they would jointly have the 289 seats needed.

Could there be a ‘Republican front’ against the RN?

Within minutes of the exit poll showing the far-right National Rally largely in the lead, political leaders on the left started calling for a so-called “Republican front”. 

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They pledged to withdraw third-place candidates who qualified for the second round in an effort to prevent the RN from winning seats due to a split vote between the other parties.

This is true of LFI, the Socialists, Greens, and Communists, and also of certain members of Macron’s centrist coalition.

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“I say this with all the force that each and every one of our voters must muster. Not a single vote must go to the National Rally,” Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said in his speech on Sunday.

Other members of the president’s coalition have called on their voters not to support members of LFI, saying that neither the RN nor the party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, which is part of the left-wing coalition, should get a vote.

For Mathias Bernard, a specialist in French political history and president of the University of Clermont Auvergne, “withdrawals or, conversely, triangular contests are the key to the election.”

“If each of the three blocs goes it alone in the second-round battle, the RN is likely to win an absolute majority. If there is a sort of ‘Republican front’, it will be more difficult for the RN,” he told Euronews.

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“However, it is not certain that this “Republican front” will materialise,” he said, naming Ensemble and the Republicans as the two parties where third-placed candidates might most resist being asked to withdraw.

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High turnout in snap election

There was intense interest in the snap poll called by Macron, with several voters telling Euronews ahead of the vote that they were disappointed with the president’s policies and wanted change.

Turnout, which is often low in France, increased significantly during these elections.

In the first round of the 2017 and 2022 legislative elections, the participation rate did not reach 50%, according to interior ministry figures. The first round of this poll saw the participation rise to 66.7%.

“High turnout and fewer candidates led to an unprecedented number of three-way contests in the second round,” according to Célia Belin, head of the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Paris office.

The presidential coalition’s refusal to systematically withdraw due to the presence of LFI candidates, however, could “increase anti-RN voters’ confusion about the best course of action,” she said.

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Manon Aubry, a leftist EU lawmaker, told reporters on Sunday that she met many first-time young voters when she went to vote in Paris.

This mobilisation, especially in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, should be welcomed and amplified, she said.

The results also sparked protests in the country, with thousands of left-wing voters gathering over the gains of the far-right.

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Miley Cyrus, Jisoo, Sabrina Carpenter, Al Pacino and More Photos from the Dior Cruise Show in Los Angeles

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Miley Cyrus, Jisoo, Sabrina Carpenter, Al Pacino and More Photos from the Dior Cruise Show in Los Angeles

Jonathan Anderson gathered some of Hollywood’s most famous faces for the front row at his Dior Cruise Collection 2027 fashion show at Los Angeles’ LACMA on Wednesday night.

Spotted taking their seats underneath the new David Geffen Galleries were Miley Cyrus, Sabrina Carpenter, Al Pacino, Jisoo of Blackpink, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jeff Goldblum, Tracee Ellis Ross, Role Model, Grace Gummer, Dominic Fike, Miranda Kerr, Mikey Madison, Paul W. Downs, Leslie Mann, Miles Teller, Macaulay Culkin and Bill Pullman.

Guests entered LACMA through a simple entrance on Wilshire Boulevard lined on both sides by gaggles of photographers (some were apparently extras hired to act like shutterbugs). Inside, there were large stone-like step-and-repeats for more photos. Attendees were gifted Dior blankets at their seats as well as a mock script titled “Wilshire Boulevard” starring Anderson explaining the show’s noir theme and looks.

An after-party took place at Chateau Marmont.

Miley Cyrus told me she was grateful Anderson chose her hometown for the event. “I love that they came to L.A.,” she said. “That’s the best part.”

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Of her all-denim look, the Grammy winner said, “What I love about L.A. is that it’s casual, so just stopping by to enjoy. Not overdone.”

Meanwhile, following the success of her “Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special,” I asked Cyrus if a reboot of the Disney Channel sitcom was in the works. “I don’t know about all that,” she said, smiling.

Cyrus cracked, “You always get me in trouble.”

Cyrus has credited my question about her possible plans to mark the two-decade milestone earlier in the year that prompted her and Disney to develop the special.

Tracee Ellis Ross also said she was “so pleased” the show took place in Los Angeles: “I don’t have to get on a plane.”

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See all the best celebrity looks at the Dior fashion show below.

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Non-Jewish professor says he was fired for calling out Hamas supporters in online post

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Non-Jewish professor says he was fired for calling out Hamas supporters in online post

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A non-Jewish Canadian professor says he was fired from his university for defending Israel in a social media post as antisemitism exploded across Canada following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.

Paul Finlayson told Fox News Digital that he lost his job at Canada’s University of Guelph-Humber after taking a strong stance online about the massacre and kidnapping of Israelis and foreigners — including Americans and Canadians.

Finlayson responded in November of 2023 to a LinkedIn message from an overseas educator who he said was “calling for the eradication of Israel.” Though the author later deleted his post and all corresponding comments, the National Post quoted from Finlayson’s response in a December 2023 article.

“If you say ‘from the River to the Sea’, you’re a Nazi,” Finlayson wrote. “I’m not neutral. I stand with Israel. I stand against antisemites who want nothing but dead Jews: who take millions from their education and health care budgets and spend it on making war…You stand with Palestine means you stand with Hitler. You don’t want peace, you want dead Jews…They murdered 1,400 innocents and took 250 hostages and the people celebrated rapist monsters as heroes.”

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RECORD ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS IN CANADA FUEL CRITICISM OF CARNEY GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

Paul Finlayson says he lost his job after taking a strong stance online against the Hamas terror attacks on Israel. (Paul Finlayson )

Since the post, Finlayson says he has faced a targeted campaign against him which has affected his professional standing and job prospects. 

Finlayson said that students at the school found his LinkedIn reply before the post’s author erased the thread, leading to outcry. While meeting with a student in his office on Nov. 27, Finlayson said an administrator waited outside, eventually presenting him with a suspension letter.

A copy of the suspension letter, provided by Finlayson, cites “inappropriate online comments” and places the professor “on leave pending the outcome of the investigation.” It directed Finlayson not to contact “any of your departmental staff or students or broader members of the [university].”

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Finlayson said he was “very well-liked” by students, who ranked him among the highest in the business department faculty. He said that rumors about the accusations against him destroyed his academic reputation, which included formulating courses and writing textbooks.

“My trial has been by defamation, and it continues by defamation,” Finlayson said of the “Kafkaesque” situation that ensued.

FEDERAL PROBE CLAIMS UNIVERSITIES ARE ‘LEGITIMIZING AND AMPLIFYING ANTISEMITISM’

Anti-Israel protesters hold antisemitic posters in Edmonton, Alberta, on April 13, 2025. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto)

He says that his union, OPSEU Local 562, refused to represent him. The union did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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Finlayson was officially fired by the university in July 2025. He provided a copy of his termination letter, which stated that after a “formal complaint of discrimination and harassment,” an investigator found that his “conduct violated the Ontario Human Rights Code and Humber’s Human Rights and Harassment Policy, and that [he] engaged in reprisal under both of those instruments.”

The Humber harassment policy states that “anyone who attempts Reprisal or threatens Reprisal against a person who initiates a complaint or participates in proceedings under this Policy may be subject to disciplinary action.”

The same policy says that “Humber upholds and supports the right to equal treatment without Discrimination” based on prohibited grounds, which include antisemitism.

CANADA’S ANTISEMITISM ENVOY RESIGNS, CITING EXHAUSTION AMID HATE SURGE

Temple Emanu-El in Toronto was shot at on March 3, 2026. No injuries were reported. (Nick Lachance/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

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The University of Guelph-Humber did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions about Finlayson’s suspension, investigation and firing, and about whether anti-Israel posts shared by its students and a professor at the University violate the Humber Human Rights and Harassment Policy.

The University of Guelph’s “UofGforPalestine” Instagram page, which presents itself as the account of “students, staff, and faculty who stand in solidarity with Palestine,” has shared posts with the inverted red triangle that Hamas uses to mark targets. Like the U.S., Canada designates Hamas as a terror group.

In November 2024, the group shared photos on its Instagram account of a guillotine that “appeared on a walking path” in Guelph, which featured photos of the heads of Canadian, American and Israeli leaders coated in red paint. Though purported to be an “anonymous submission,” the post notes its “message” as “Death to empire, death to colonialism and imperialism, death to the war machine.”

The University of Guelph Humber in Ontario, Canada.  (Google Maps)

A University of Guelph-Humber professor whom Finlayson believes brought the case against him has posted inflammatory rhetoric on his own LinkedIn account, calling Israel a “terrorist state,” and stating that the world “cannot have both” peace and Israel.

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The professor did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

While Finlayson lost his position, elsewhere in Canada, activism led to starkly different circumstances for three staffers at York University, who were among 11 individuals charged with “hate-motivated mischief” in Nov 2023 for plastering a bookstore with photos accusing a Jewish CEO of genocide, and splashing the store with red paint, as reported by the National Post.

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Though they were initially suspended from the school, at least two staff members appear to have current profiles on the York University website. One, a professor, most recently taught courses at the school in the Winter 2026 semester. York University did not respond to requests for comment about its restoration of staff members’ roles.

Since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, antisemitism has exploded in Canada. In April, B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights released a report showing that 6,800 antisemitic incidents took place in the country in 2025, representing a 9.4% increase over 2024. On average, this represented 18.6 incidents a day and was the “highest volume” the group has recorded since it began tracking incidents.

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Russia’s prison population falls by 180,000 since start of Ukraine war

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Russia’s prison population falls by 180,000 since start of Ukraine war

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The number of prisoners in Russia has dropped by more than 180,000 over five years, in part driven by Moscow sending convicts to fight in Ukraine, Russia’s prison chief said on Thursday.

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In four years of war, Russia has offered prisoners army contracts to fight in Ukraine and buy out their sentences, should they survive.

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Russia, which has a massive prison network inherited from Soviet labour camps, has one of the world’s largest convict populations, though that number has been decreasing in the last 20 years.

“If at the end of 2021 there were 465,000 (prisoners), then now there are 282,000,” the head of Russia’s penitentiary service, Arkady Gostev, said, according to the TASS state news agency.

That represents a drop of nearly 40%.

Around 85,000 of the current prison population is held in pre-trial detention, he added.

Gostev said the decline was in part driven by the army’s recruitment drive, but also due to more suspended sentences and other forms of punishment handed out.

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Prisoners returning from the Ukraine front have led to an increase in crime and social tension in Russia.

Gostev also said thousands of prisoners were working on production sites in support of the army, contributing to the country’s wartime economy.

Russian prisoners are often made to work, in a system inherited from the Soviet Gulag.

“Over the course of the year, we had additionally deployed 16,000 inmates for these (army) purposes, specifically for manufacturing,” TASS quoted Gostev as saying.

“We produce goods for the special military operation (worth) around 5.5 billion rubles (€64 million),” he said, using Moscow’s term for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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“The volume of production (at prison sites) in 2025 amounted to 47 billion rubles (€548 million),” he said, without elaborating how much of it was for army needs.

Russia has experienced a shortage of workers during its offensive, with hundreds of thousands of men at the front and a similar amount fleeing the country due to mobilisation.

Additional sources • AFP

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