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Emmanuel Macron's rise to power in 2017 was something of a whirlwind for French politics, so the question is whether his time is over.

Talk to voters and there is a sense that many have had enough of his style of politics. Some call him a narcissist, others are downright angry with him, and opponents complain he's on the side of the rich.

The president's name and picture rarely figured in his Ensemble party's campaign - there was a fear he was a turn-off for voters.

Macron's popularity has fallen, especially since he decided to call these elections without consulting his prime minister or anyone else in his government.

But his argument for doing so is to break two years of stalemate in France's hung parliament.

The "disorder" of recent months can't go on, he says. But will this election clear that logjam, or has he just handed power to the far right?

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Turning our attention back to voter turnout, in Toulouse - France’s fourth biggest city - it already stood at close to 59% at 17:00. This is sharply higher than the 46% turnout two years ago.

There could be an even bigger surge later in the day because the city has a very young population. One in three residents in the centre is a student.

This city has firmly backed the far-left presidential candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, in past elections and many local MPs campaigning for re-election are from his party, France Unbowed.

However, the further out you travel from the city and its prosperous suburbs, the more the political landscape shifts.

Once a socialist stronghold, the countryside, in the vast region called Occitanie with a population of six million stretching from the Mediterranean to the Pyrenees mountains and the edge of the Massif Central mountainous region, has tilted increasingly to the far right.

Those voters in rural areas and smaller towns often say they have made the switch because of the cost of living crisis, soaring energy prices and fears of rising crime and the perceived failure of the judicial system to tackle the issue.

Image source, Reuters

As we've been reporting, many people were upset and surprised when Macron decided to call this snap election.

And of one of the reasons many were surprised about the timing is that France is busy gearing up for the Paris Olympics, due to be held from 26 July-11 August.

The French capital has been preparing for the event for years, and the city’s Socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, has been open in her criticism of President Macron’s decision to call elections just before the global event kicks off.

Hidalgo has said she was "stunned” to hear the president decide to dissolve parliament and said the decision was “extremely unsettling” so close to the Olympics.

She has also accused Macron of “spoiling the party”.

Not that there is any love lost with Jordan Bardella either. Hidalgo says she will refuse to appear in photos with him at the Olympics if he becomes PM after these parliamentary elections.

Voters in France have been turning out in large numbers for the first round of a snap election called earlier this month that could put the far right in power.

Here's what the scenes have looked like across the country:

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We're getting closer and closer to the polls closing in France, which as a reminder opened up to voters early this morning at 08:00 local time (07:00 BST)

The first polls to close will be in five minutes - at 18:00 local time (17:00 BST) - in some rural locations. The rest of the polls will close by 20:00 local time (19:00 BST) in the cities.

We’ll get the first projections pretty much as soon as the polls close. A more complete picture will come a few hours later.

By the end of the evening, we should have a good idea of the winners and the losers of the first round of France’s parliamentary elections. Stick with us and we'll bring you all those updates here.

Image source, Getty Images

We've still got a little more than two hours to go till polls close in France, but the Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia – an overseas, autonomous territory of France – closed its polls hours ago.

According to FranceInfo, external, preliminary results are already in for the archipelago.

Violence has gripped New Caledonia in recent months over plans to extend voting rights to people who’d lived there for more than 10 years. As things stand, voting in the territory is restricted to the indigenous Kanak population and those who arrived from France before 1998.

The unrest has left nine people dead and reportedly caused damage estimated at more than 1.5bn euros ($1.6bn; £1.3bn).

Authorities in New Caledonia announced a ban on gatherings on the archipelago this weekend, as well as an extension of a nightly curfew in place since riots began until 8 July, after the second round of voting finishes.

Image source, EPA

The other major alliance fighting to win over voters is France's left-wing alliance.

Soon after the parliamentary elections were called, Socialists, Ecologists, Communists and France Unbowed(LFI) announced they would form this left-wing alliance – the New Popular Front.

These parties have previously criticised one another and have some key differences in their ideology and approach. But they decided to form a bloc to keep the far right out of government.

The Popular Front has promised to scrap the pension and immigration reforms passed by the current government, to set up a rescue agency for undocumented migrants and to facilitate visa applications.

It also wants to put caps on basic goods to combat the cost of living crisis and raise the minimum wage.

Image source, Getty Images

As we mentioned in some of our earliest posts, Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old president of the far-right National Rally party, could well become France's youngest ever prime minister after voting ends on 7 July.

As things stand though, the record for youngest prime minister is held by France's current premier - Gabriel Attal, who took the role in January this year at the age of 34.

A member of President Macron's centrist Renaissance party, Attal's career rise was rapid: he won election to the National Assembly in 2017, before becoming the youngest person to serve in the French government a year later as a junior minister in the education and youth department.

When appointed as France's new prime minister in January, after the resignation of PM Élisabeth Borne, Attal became not just France's youngest PM but also the first openly gay person to lead a G7 government.

But just five months into the role, he is leading the governing coalition into this vote.

Attal was reportedly not told about the snap election until the decision had already been made, a surprise snub for a man seen as a favourite of Macron's.

Image source, Getty Images

As we've just been reporting, turnout is already higher in this election than ones in recent history. And that will have an important bearing on what happens in round two.

But the bigger reason is that - whether you are for or against the National Rally (RN) - everyone can see that this is a vote that matters.

If the turnout is high, it should mean more three-way contests in the run-off vote on 7 July. That is because of a quirk in France's electoral law.

To qualify for the second round, you need to be one of the two leaders in round one. Or you need to have 12.5% of the registered electorate - not 12.5% of the vote, but of all potential voters in a constituency.

This means that the lower the turnout, the harder it is for a third candidate to make the threshold. But a high turnout - say 62.5% - means that a third candidate can make it through with 20% of the vote, which is more doable.

The more "triangular" votes there are, the more - in theory - that should favour the National Rally. That is because the anti-RN vote won't be concentrated on one candidate.

But in some constituencies where there are three-way contests, we can expect to see either the centrist or the left-winger standing down - to create a single anti-RN vote.

Let's wait and see.

We can now bring you some more details about those latest figures.

They are said to be at the highest level since the 1986 legislative elections, and already higher than the elections of 2012, 2017 and 2022.

"This is the highest level since the 1986 legislative elections," Mathieu Gallard, research director at the Ipsos polling institute, said on X, external.

Gallard is also estimating that total turnout by the close of polls (at 19:00 BST, 20:00 local time) could reach 67.5% - which would make it the highest since 1997.

The latest turnout figures in the French parliamentary elections have just come in, and they stand at significantly higher than polls in recent history.

At 17:00 local time (16:00 BST, 15:00 GMT), 59.39% of the electorate had cast ballots, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of the Interior.

In 2022 at this time in the day, turnout was 39.4%.

Image source, Reuters

Aged 28, the leader of the far-right National Rally (RN) is considered the favourite to become France’s next prime minister.

Born in Seine-Saint-Denis near Paris in 1995, he joined RN when he was 17, and quickly became close to its leader, Marine Le Pen.

In his early 20s he was made party spokesman, and in 2019 he became the party’s candidate in the European elections. He won and became the second youngest ever Member of the European Parliament, aged 23.

He comes across as a slick, presentable and well-spoken politician; he uses social media deftly, and has been a huge asset for Le Pen. Under his leadership, the RN won its highest share of the vote ever at the European elections earlier this month.

But what Bardella thinks, where he stands ideologically, what kind of person he is – these are unknowns. The French have the distinct feeling that the man they see is a package. Nicely-wrapped, but the contents are a mystery.

• You can read Jordan Bardella’s profile by our Paris correspondent here

Three weeks ago, the town of Pontault-Combault east of Paris voted for National Rally in the European elections, well ahead of any other party, so you'd think they're doing the same today.

"People want change here and they're motivated to vote," says Patrick. "They're not happy when they feel insecure on the streets." He isn't voting for the far right himself but fully expects them to win, although without an absolute majority he thinks they'll find it hard to do much.

First-time voter Lou won't say how she voted but she isn't especially worried if the far right wins. "I'm a law student so I'm really interested in whether our president is capable of governing with another party," she says, pointing out that power-sharing hasn't happened in her lifetime.

Here, that's called "cohabitation" and it has not happened since 2002.

Another voter, Julien, says he'll vote for any party if they have a chance of keeping out the far right, known in French as forming a "barrage".

Stepping away from the polls for a moment, we're going to now bring you some of the voices from the French people who are out casting ballots in today's high-stakes election.

Claire, a 29-year-old lawyer who voted in the18th arrondissement (district) in Paris on Sunday morning.

National Rally leader Jordan Bardella, more on him shortly, has said his party plans to ban dual nationals from certain sensitive jobs in security or defence.

"I am also German and it makes it even more painful to see the extreme right so close to take the power in France," Claire tells me.

"I am sad today, even if I still have hope," she says, adding that what has annoyed her most throughout this campaign is that she believes French television has given Bardella's party "far more visibility".

Image source, Getty Images

While there are dozens of political parties running in the French parliamentary elections, there are three main blocks running today. These include:

• National Rally (RN): The far-right party is currently leading the polls, after a strong showing in recent European elections. While the party has moved away from the antisemitic and extremist roots of its founders, it remains strictly anti-immigration – if the party wins power it wants to get rid of the automatic right to French citizenship for children with foreign-born parents, for instance
• New Popular Front alliance: Behind RN in the polls is a group of left-wing parties – Socialists, Communists, Greens, and France Unbowed (LFI) – who decided to group together to keep the far right out of government. The alliance wants to remove the unpopular pension reforms passed by the current government, raise the minimum wage and create a rescue agency for undocumented migrants
• French President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble alliance: They’re trying to appeal to the centre ground, but polls suggest voters are moving strongly away from the current government to the left and the right. Some political experts think there is a real risk for that, and believe it is possible many of the Macron camp candidates will not qualify at all for the run-off vote on 7 July

Image source, gett

Turnout has so far been higher than expected and seems to be bucking the trend of recent years.

By midday, it was 26% - the highest in more than 40 years.

That's an increase from the 2022 parliamentary elections. At this point in the day during that poll, only 18.43% had been recorded.

"This is the highest level since the 1981 legislative elections," Mathieu Gallard, research director at the Ipsos polling institute, said on X, external.

This was particularly striking in the capital, Paris, where turnout at midday stood at 25.48% compared to 12.8% at the same time in 2022 - that is to say a rate twice as high, French media report.

This reflects the stakes in an election that could ultimately see one of the European Union's top two powers led by a government of the populist right.

France has a semi-presidential system of government, with both a president and a prime minister handling the international and domestic affairs of the country.

As a reminder, the prime minister is the head of government, and the president is the head of state.

But since 2002, parliamentary elections have taken place right after presidential elections.

By calling these elections three years ahead of the scheduled 2027 elections, Emmanuel Macron has put the legislative term out of sync with the presidential terms.

The two elections can be realigned again if the next president in 2027 decides to dissolve parliament as soon as they are elected.

France’s exceptionally high-stakes election has begunpublished at 14:32 30 June

14:32 30 June

Hugh Schofield
Reporting from Paris

The result of this election could mark a historic turning point, not just for France, but for Europe and the so-called West in general.

The notion that a far-right party with roots in antisemitism and war-time collaboration could end up forming a government in a country as important as France would until very recently have been unthinkable.

That it is now not just conceivable but likely is proof that we have moved definitively out of the post-World War Two era.

Words that once were automatic signifiers of praise and blame - Gaullism, fascism, Vichy, the Republican Front - are still thrown out in political discourse. But they have less and less meaning.

Today, people class the world according to different categories. It explains why the shame attached to voting for a populist far-right party like the National Rally has all but disappeared.

Image source, Reuters

As we start to cover what is expected to be a rather tense first round, it's worth taking a step back to remind why this snap election was called in the first place.

Earlier this month, Emmanuel Macron made his surprise announcement in a dramatic TV address on 9 June - the day the French had taken part in European elections. It came barely an hour after polls showed the far-right National Rally party had trounced his centrist alliance.

Saying he couldn’t act as if nothing had happened, he called snap parliamentary elections. Macron’s own job isn’t affected, as these elections are separate from the presidential vote and his term runs for three more years.

Although the decision was a huge surprise, some commentators have argued Macron had no choice. Since he failed to secure an absolute majority at the last elections two years ago, he has been stuck in terms of passing new laws or reforms.

His own popularity is low, too, and his Ensemble alliance is running third in the polls. At best, he can hope to limit the damage and keep half his MPs.

Macron said he was “responding” to the people and giving them the chance to bring about clarity – even if that means giving the RN the chance to govern.

Image source, Reuters

French voters are going to the polls for the first round of a snap parliamentary election called by President Emmanuel Macron three weeks ago.

They are voting to elect 577 deputies of the Assemblée Nationale - the French parliament.

For an absolute majority a party needs 289 seats. The first round eliminates all candidates who fail to win the support of 12.5% of locally registered voters.

Anyone who scores 50% of the vote with a turnout of at least a quarter of the local electorate wins automatically.

Usually, that only happens in a handful of constituencies, but the favourites in this race, the far-right National Rally, are hoping for dozens of immediate victories.

As a reminder, run-offs will be taking place in a week’s time - on Sunday 7 July.