Left leads French election in an unexpected upset

STORY: France was on course for a hung parliament Sunday after a leftist alliance unexpectedly took the top spot ahead of the far right.

Supporters of the left-wing New Popular Front cheered as results of the second round of parliamentary elections were announced.

The leftist alliance gathers the hard left, the Socialists and Greens.

They were forecast to win up to 215 seats out of 577, according to pollsters' projections.

These projections are usually reliable.

At the headquarters for the far-right National Rally, or RN, the mood was far more somber, with early results placing them in third.

Ahead of the vote, opinion surveys had projected the RN would win comfortably.

But left and centrist alliances cooperated by pulling scores of candidates from three-way races in a bid to build a unified anti-RN vote.

RN leader Jordan Bardella said France has been pushed into the hands of the far left - and towards uncertainty.

The results would divide parliament into three big groups, all with vastly different platforms and no tradition of working together.

Green Party leader Marine Tondelier said she was determined to keep the coalition alive.

“Social justice won tonight. Environmental justice has won. Tonight, the people won. And it's only just beginning.”

The results are also a humiliation for French President Emmanuel Macron.

His centrist alliance, which he founded to underpin his first presidential run in 2017, was projected to be narrowly second.

He called the snap election after his ticket was trounced in European Parliament elections last month.

Voters punished him and his ruling alliance for a cost of living crisis and failing public services, as well as over immigration and security.