People protest against the French far-right National Rally party at Place de la Republique in Paris

Voters on the left and centre are uneasy because it appears that the far right is winning.

France is getting ready to vote in the National Assembly's second round of elections.

Following the far-right's victory in the most recent European Parliament vote, President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the legislature and announced two rounds of early elections.

With over 29 percent of the vote, the far-right National Rally (RN) party won the inaugural election.

Once more, protesters are calling on people to vote on Sunday against the National Front, a group that has been the subject of nationwide protests.

On Wednesday, demonstrators marched through Paris from the Place de la Republique to the National Rally's headquarters.

According to Philippe Marliere, a professor of French and European politics at University College London, "the mood is quite high drama and intense." "Everyone who doesn't want National Rally to win the election or even obtain a majority is in a mobilising mood."

In the first round, Macron's Renaissance party received only over 20% of the vote. The New Popular Front, an alliance of left-leaning parties, received a greater percentage of 28 percent. The alliance aims to bring people together against Marine Le Pen's nationalist and anti-immigrant RN party.

More than 20 years ago, Danielle Barron left the United States for France, just after Marine Le Pen's father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, lost to Jacques Chirac in a presidential runoff.

Her children were born in France, and four years ago, the family obtained French citizenship. Since then, Barron has cast his ballot in France.

France to vote in an election that might put the far right in power.

“I immigrated to France six months after the 2002 [US] elections full of hope and convinced that I was fleeing a broken democracy entrenched in institutionalised racism and quickly spiralling towards a far-right regime. I never imagined that 22 years later, I would be facing the same fears in my adoptive country,” Barron told Al Jazeera.

Although the results of the first round were not surprising, voters on the left are worried they are running out of options against the RN.

“Mobilising the left, forming a coalition and a surge of voters is no longer enough. The far right still won, which is a bit depressing,” Baptiste Colin, a 29-year-old theatre producer from Lyon, told Al Jazeera. “I am still happy to see the Popular Front and parties who have united or candidates who have [stepped down] to not split the vote.”

Compared to 47.5 percent in the 2022 parliamentary elections, a high voter turnout of approximately 68 percent was recorded in the first round of voting. In the first round, almost 70 candidates who received a majority of the vote were elected without a runoff. The remaining candidates will face off against the top two or three parties in each constituency.

Following the first round results, Macron released a statement saying, "Confronted by the National Rally, it is time for a large, clearly democratic and republican alliance for the second round."

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Even if the president's party is trailing, a large number of supporters of Macron's Renaissance party are unwilling to vote a Popular Front candidate in the runoff elections.

“Macron voters could determine the election. They have the chance to block the RN, but I am worried it is too late and that Macron voters are not ready to vote for the left. There is still rhetoric equating the left with the far right in terms of extremist policies,” Colin said.

In the run-offs, the centre could band together with the existing left coalition so there are no three-way races splitting the non-RN vote.

“Withdrawals are essential. Without withdrawals, if you have three candidates, voters do not vote strategically. Voters tend to remain loyal to their candidate,” Marliere said. “But it is not a question of voting for an opponent. It’s a question of using that vote to defeat the National Rally.”

‘You never know when the far right will reclaim the power you grant them.

The RN appears certain to secure a relative majority in the National Assembly, despite the fact that the outcomes of the first round cannot foretell how the 577 available parliamentary seats will ultimately be distributed. In the event that this happens, the far-right party would become the country's first elected government in 80 years, following the collaborationist Vichy regime's association with the Nazis during the war.

“We have never been so close to having a party funded on xenophobia, racism, with ties to Nazi collaborators right at its origin, come to power. This second round is crucial because it will give the direction of this country for the next couple of years, if not for the next generation,” Rim-Sarah Alouane, a French researcher in comparative law at the University Toulouse Capitole, told Al Jazeera.

“I’m not exaggerating by saying the very foundation of our Republic is on very shaky ground,” she said. “The far right is not a normal party. When you give power to the far right, you never know when they will give it back.”

The protégé of Le Pen, Jordan Bardella, may be prime minister if the RN secures an absolute majority.

The far right has gained a sizable portion of young voters with Bardella's assistance; a recent poll found that 25% of voters between the ages of 18 and 24 supported the RN in the first round, more than doubling the percentage from the previous year.

"The RN is the subject of hype. In contrast to the past, when voting for the RN was seen as archaic, Bardella is youthful, popular on TikTok, and there is a perception that doing so is hip. Colin stated as much.

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French-Hungarian professor of English literature and translation in Brittany, Daniel Szabo, 48, stated: "People are not even voting for the candidate." 

 They are voting for Bardella for prime minister, hoping their vote will get him to an absolute majority. But most of the local candidates are not good.”

Locally, Szabo observed the far right’s foothold growing in this election cycle.

“Brittany has always been more open and voted less for the RN,” he said. “But for the first time, the RN has been first in a lot of constituencies. I think it’s Macron’s fault. He has been too arrogant. He’s very clever, but he has not done a good job.”

In France, the prime minister guides the domestic agenda, meaning Bardella could have ample opportunity to make much of the RN’s hardline agenda into policy.

“They’d be able to be in a position to pass virtually all kinds of legislation,” Marliere said.

Some of Bardella’s proposals include denying convicts access to public housing, halting free medical treatment for undocumented immigrants except in emergencies, ending automatic citizenship rights at age 18 for children born in France to non-French parents and slashing France’s contributions to the European Union by 2 billion euros ($2.16bn).

“The RN is making all the promises people want to hear with the easy political trick to put the blame on immigrants, especially Arab immigrants,” Szabo said.

Ondine Debre, a 44-year-old who splits her time between the Loire Valley and Paris, said she worries about the state of the country if the RN wins anything close to a majority.

“Many people in France doubted that the far right could arrive in power, but we now realise that a lot of people do not feel heard in the current political system. I hope that the parties on the left and centre also realise this. We need cohesive humanist and democratic values,” she said. “The RN is a threat to many civil liberties, not only for multinational citizens, but for all French people.”