France faces hung parliament after surprise election result

France's far-right National Rally (RN) has failed to win a majority in parliamentary elections, BBC reports.

Official results show a victory for the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance. President Emmanuel Macron's centrist Ensemble alliance came second with the RN third.

The country now faces the prospect of a hung parliament as the three groups have no tradition of working together.

There was no immediate comment from Macron.

This was the second round of voting in France's snap parliamentary election, which Macron called a month ago. After the RN did well in the first round a week ago, leftist or centrist candidates in many places withdrew - a tactical move to allow anti-RN votes to go to one contender.

A full breakdown of the results in terms of seats is expected shortly.