A DRAMATIC NEW era began in France on Sunday June 30th when Marine Le Pen’s hard-right party took a massive lead in first-round voting for the lower house of parliament. Her National Rally (RN) has never been so close to governing France. Early results suggested that the party had secured 34% of the vote, according to Ipsos, a polling group. Ahead of a final run-off vote on July 7th, this puts it on course to win 230-280 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, up from 88, and become easily the biggest group in parliament. A result at the upper end of that range would put them in touching distance of an overall majority of 289.

The poll was marked by the highest first-round turnout since 1997. Candidates from the RN came top in hundreds of constituencies across the country: in its old geographical heartlands of the north-eastern rustbelt and the south of France, as well as places with little history of support, such as Brittany. In her own constituency around Hénin-Beaumont, in the mining basin of northern France, Ms Le Pen was elected outright in the first round.