French National Rally party wins with 45% of votes in Northern Catalonia
Far-right Marine Le Pen's group obtains one MP with absolute majority
The French political party, National Rally, won with 45% to 47% of the votes in the French legislative elections in the four voting areas in Northern Catalonia.
In three voting areas, the Rassemblement National, led by Marine Le Pen, obtained between 45-47% of votes, and the party will face the second most voted group in the second ballot; in a fourth one, Anaïs Sabatini won with 54.98% of the votes, therefore obtaining an absolute majority and being elected as MP.
Some of the 51,000 Catalan people residing in France have expressed "dread" for a potential victory of Marine Le Pen's National Rally in the French legislative election.
Talking to the Catalan News Agency (ACN), Jesús Crespo, a man who has spent the past 15 years in Paris, said: "We are still foreigners in a foreign country. I had already considered it, but now I am looking into becoming a French national."
He expresses "surprise" at the fact that National Rally performed so well in the recent European election. "You see that one in three have voted for them, and the usual reaction is to wonder where they are," he added.