La grande calamité

Dire warnings as hard-right party on cusp of power

- MARTIN FRICKER

POLITICIANS say France is on the verge of "catastrophe" after the hard-right National Rally won the first round of parliamentary elections.

Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration party is now the dominant force in French politics and at the "gates of power", rivals warned.

The results sparked riots in Paris with just under a week until the second round of voting, which will decide the country's future.

It is the biggest political turmoil in France for decades, and comes a few weeks before the nation hosts the Olympics. National Rally -1 known in French as Rassemblement National, or RN - got 33% of the vote.

It is the only time the hard-right has won the first round of a French parliamentary election.

Most of the 577 seats in the National Assembly will be decided by the run-off vote on Sunday.

If RN gets an absolute majority, by winning at least 289 seats, it would be the first time a hard-right party has taken power in France since the Nazi occupation in the Second World War. On 28%, the New Popular Front - a left wing alliance of parties-came second to RN.