‘This could end up ugly’: after Macron’s gamble, will the far right seize power in France?

Marine Le Pen's party is breaking record high scores across vast areas of the country, polls show, with an increase in its influence inevitable

It is 8pm on Sunday 7 July. Polling stations have just closed after the second round of snap French parliamentary elections - the country's most momentous ballot in living memory - and the first estimations flash up on the nation's TV screens.

President Emmanuel Macron has lost his gamble. The National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen has more than trebled its tally of deputies in the assemblee nationale to just over 290: an absolute majority. France's next government will be far right.