French citizens in New York turned out in droves on Saturday for the second round of voting in France‘s parliamentary run-off election.
Hundreds of people voted in person on Saturday, showing up at the consulate as well at the tony private school Lycée Français de New York on East 75th Street and the networking and arts space Villa Albertine on Fifth Avenue, French officials told The Post.
Voting is also taking place online, consulate officials said. In addition, citizens also were allowed to apply for have someone they trust vote for them by proxy in France.
Marine Le Pen’s right-wing nationalist party National Rally came out on top of first-round voting last Sunday, followed by a coalition of center-left, left-wing and Greens parties – and President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance in a distant third.
The party has seen its support climb steadily over the past decade and is hoping to obtain an absolute majority in the second round. That would allow National Rally leader Jordan Bardella to become prime minister and form a government that would be at odds with Macron’s policies on Ukraine, police powers and other issues.
Preelection polls suggest that the party may win the most seats in the National Assembly but fall short of an absolute majority of 289 seats. That could result in a hung parliament.
A win for Le Pen would mean France would be helmed by a far right majority for the first time since World War II.
In New York, more than 12,000 French citizens voted, out of the 32,600 who are living in the Big Apple and registered to vote, according to Victoire Caroly, a spokesperson for the French consulate in New York.
That’s a substantial uptick from the 4,700 who voted in the 2022 French legislative elections, when there
were 25,700 French voters in the city.
“We had an amazing turnout,” Caroly said.
The results of the vote are expected late Sunday.
— With wire reports
