France election live: polls close soon with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally expected to be in lead – live

Voting begins after snap election unexpectedly called by Emmanuel Macron after his allies performed poorly in European elections

Emmanuel Macron’s centrist grouping was fighting for survival this weekend before the first round of France’s high-stakes snap election, which could see the far-right National Rally (RN) become the biggest force in parliament.

Macron, who warned last week that France risked “civil war” if Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration RN, or the leftwing New Popular Front coalition, came to power, said at the European summit in Brussels that “uninhibited racism and antisemitism” had been unleashed in France.