France votes in final round of ‘seismic’ election

France went to the polls on Sunday for the second round of a crunch election that is expected to leave the far right as the dominant force in a divided and paralysed parliament.

President Emmanuel Macron called the snap elections three years ahead of time after his forces were trounced in June's European parliament vote, a gamble which seems to have backfired.

Far right leader Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) came top in the June 30 first round, and is on course to repeat the feat in Sunday's run off races.

But she may not win the outright majority that would force Macron to appoint Le Pen's lieutenant, the RN party leader Jordan Bardella, 28, as prime minister just weeks before Paris hosts the Olympics.

A hung parliament with a large eurosceptic, anti-immigration contingent could weaken France's international standing and threaten Western unity in the face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

This photograph shows ballots during the second round of France's elections in Bordeaux, France on Sunday. AFP

With the country on tenterhooks, last week saw more than 200 tactical-voting pacts between centre and left wing candidates in seats to attempt to prevent the RN winning an absolute majority.

This has been hailed as a return of the anti-far right "Republican Front" first summoned when Marine Le Pen's father Jean-Marie faced Jacques Chirac in the run-off of 2002 presidential elections.

Following the pacts, opinion polls forecast that the RN would fall well short of the 289 seats needed for an outright majority in the 577-seat National Assembly, while still becoming the largest party.

Agence France-Presse