The votes of young people could be the deciding factor in the second round of the parliamentary elections in France, according to German politician and France expert Franziska Brantner.

Many are disappointed with President Emmanuel Macron, said Brantner, who is a lawmaker in the German lower house, or Bundestag, and also a deputy member of the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly, in an interview on Monday with public radio Deutschlandfunk.

It now depends on whether young people who voted in favour of the left-wing alliance in the first round on Sunday are still prepared to support a candidate from Macron’s alliance.

“Whether the mobilization works here is, I think, one of the big issues for next Sunday,” she noted.

After the first round of the early parliamentary elections, Marine Le Pen’s far-right nationalist National Rally (RN) and its allies are ahead with 33% to 34.2% of the vote.

President Macron’s centrist Ensemble (Together) alliance, led by his Renaissance party, came third with 20.7% to 22% behind the left-wing New Popular Front (NPF) alliance with 28.1% to 29.1%.

However, how many seats the blocs will get in the National Assembly will only be decided in run-off elections next Sunday.

Both the left-wing alliance and Macron’s bloc have said they will step down in the constituencies where they came third in favour of candidates who can beat National Rally.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal gave a stark warning on Sunday evening: “The far right is at the gates of power … Our objective is clear: to prevent the RN from getting elected in the second round.”

One challenge for the centre-left camp is that it has no figurehead, Brantner said.

“The parties have managed to form an alliance in such a short space of time, but have yet to agree on a single leader or a unified agenda. This is challenging at a time like this.”

Before the second round of voting, the parties can still forge local alliances that could influence the election outcome.

Candidates securing an absolute majority in their constituency in the first round are elected to the assembly, but in most constituencies, the victor will emerge only after the second round on Sunday.