 I say that's a form of administrative coup d'état. The president's gamble of calling a snap election appears to have backfired after the far-right party of Marine Le Pen built on momentum from European elections and won the first round of a parliamentary vote on Sunday. But faced with the prospect of the extreme right taking power in France for the first time since occupation in the Second World War, the other parties have begun cooperating, at least up to a point.