France’s National Rally Is Defiant After Disappointing Election

Leaders of France’s far-right National Rally tried to put a brave face on projected results from parliamentary elections on Sunday that showed the party had failed to win the most seats, saying that they remained on a path to power despite a disappointing night.

The National Rally, which had finished first in an initial round of balloting last week, was set to hold its most seats ever in the National Assembly, said the party’s president, Jordan Bardella. He denounced a political strategy by its centrist and left-wing rivals to withdraw candidates from hundreds of races to avoid splitting their support, saying they had “deprived” the country of a far-right government.

Still, with almost all of the 577 National Assembly seats left to be called, the National Rally had amassed 142 seats, the most of any single party. It was also winning about 37 percent of the votes nationally, the most of any party.

“This evening, an old world has fallen,” Mr. Bardella said. “Nothing can stop a people who have started to hope again.”

Marine Le Pen, the party’s leader and the daughter of its founder, also sought to put the result in a wider context. “The tide is rising,” she said. “It didn’t rise high enough this time, but it’s still rising. And as a result, our victory, in reality, is only delayed.”

The National Rally’s leaders argued that many of France’s problems stemmed from immigration and had campaigned on a plan for “national preference,” under which certain jobs, social benefits, schooling and health care would be reserved for citizens rather than immigrants.

The New Popular Front coalition of four left-wing parties came together quickly last month in a bid to present a united front and keep the National Rally from winning a majority after President Emmanuel Macron called the snap election.

Results in the western region of La Sarthe illustrated the challenge for National Rally supporters in overcoming a bitter defeat. The party had won a plurality of votes in four of five constituencies there last week, but fell short of the absolute majority required to avoid a runoff. In the second round of voting on Sunday, no National Rally candidate was elected for any of the five seats.

“It’s a shame,” said Felix Aubry, a student and the campaign manager for one of the National Rally candidates, François Fèvre. “It’s crazy to see this massive shift in votes.”He described the recent alliance of left-wing parties as “unnatural” and tried to put a positive spin on the National Rally’s progress.

“The National Rally has still made a very big breakthrough, so it’s still historic,” he said, adding, “When you see all the things that have been put in place to block it, it’s huge.”