French far-right leads after first round of legislative elections

France’s National Rally surged into the lead in the first round of legislative elections, according to results released early Monday, taking the far-right party to the brink of power and dealing a major blow to President Emmanuel Macron’s centrists in an election that could set the country, and Europe, on a starkly different course.
The results confirmed polling that showed the party, with a history of racism and xenophobia and once shunned by the mainstream, is no longer taboo, confined to the fringes of French politics.