A map shows the results of the first round of parliamentary elections in France, where Marine Le Pen’s party won “almost everywhere” bar Paris.
This isn’t what the map shows. It actually depicts the results of the 2024 European Parliament elections in France.
An image of a map, with a caption in French, is being widely shared online, with a misleading implication that it shows the results of the first round of voting in France’s National Assembly elections.
A post on X (formerly Twitter) has been shared almost 6,400 times with the caption: “France Elections. See the results from the First Round of Elections - Marine Le Pen won almost everywhere bar Paris.
“Then the Left socialists colluded & dropped 200 candidates to ensure main party success.”
It comes after the results of the second round of voting in the National Assembly elections in France, and has also been shared with identical or similar wording numerous times on Facebook.
However, the map does not show the outcome of the first round of voting in France, which took place on 30 June.
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It actually depicts the final result of the European Parliament elections for France. The map is titled in French, with a translation into English reading: “2024 European elections results: which list came out on top in your constituency?”
The map is viewable as an interactive tool in a report on the results of the European Parliament election in France.
As reported by another French newspaper, Le Monde, Marine Le Pen’s right-wing party National Rally (RN) did come first in many French municipalities in the European Parliament election, which for France took place on 9 June. Overall the RN won 31.37% of the vote, and now forms part of the Patriots for Europe far-right group of parties in the European Parliament.
But a map of the breakdown of results from the first round of France’s own National Assembly elections shows that while the RN won in large areas of France, it was not as dominant as at the European election, as the social media posts claim.
These elections operate under two different voting systems: the European Parliament elections in France use the closed lists system—a version of proportional representation in which voters select a party—while the National Assembly elections operate a two-round system where voters choose their preferred candidate in two polling days usually a week apart. Assuming no candidate wins 50% of the first round of votes, the top two go to the second round, as well as all those with support from 12.5% of registered voters.
Following the second round of voting on 7 July in France, the RN and allies were in third place with 143 seats, behind President Macron’s coalition (Ensemble alliance) of 168 seats and the New Popular Front with 182 seats.
Misleading posts about election results can undermine trust in democracy. It’s important to consider whether what you see is accurate before sharing online.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as partly false because the map shows the results of the European Parliament elections in France on 9 June, not the first round of the National Assembly elections.
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