AP PHOTOS: Friends, foes of France’s far-right National Rally scramble after first round of voting

France’s fiercely anti-immigration National Rally and opponents of the far-right party are scrambling to capitalize on a first round of voting in high-stakes surprise legislative elections.

The official results of Sunday’s election showed that round one produced two likely scenarios in what promises to be a torrid last week of campaigning. The National Rally and its allies could secure a working majority in parliament in the final round next Sunday. Or they could fall short, stymied at the last hurdle by opponents.

People gather at Republique plaza to protest the National Rally, which came out strongly ahead in the first-round legislative elections.

The selection was curated by AP photo editor Anne-Marie Belgrave in London.

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People climb on the statue at Republique plaza during a protest against the far-right National Rally party which came out strongly ahead in first-round legislative elections, Sunday, June 30, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

People gather at Republique plaza during a protest against the far-right National Rally party which came out strongly ahead in first-round legislative elections, Sunday, June 30, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

Local far-right mayor Steeve Briois, left, reacts after the release of projections based on the actual vote count in select constituencies, Sunday, June 30, 2024 in Henin-Beaumont, northern France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal delivers a speech in the courtyard of the Prime Minister's residence, Sunday, June 30, 2024 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

People gather at Republique plaza to protest the far-right National Rally, which came out strongly ahead in first-round legislative elections, in Paris, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

French far right leader Marine Le Pen reacts as she meets supporters and journalists after the release of projections based on the actual vote count in select constituencies in Henin-Beaumont, northern France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

People gather at Republique Square to protest the far-right National Rally, which came out strongly ahead in first-round legislative elections, in Paris, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

Supporters of French far right leader Marine Le Pen react after the release of projections based on the actual vote count in select constituencies in Henin-Beaumont, northern France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

French far right leader Marine Le Pen gestures after delivering her speech after the release of projections based on the actual vote count in select constituencies in Henin-Beaumont, northern France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Far left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon exits the voting booth before voting, in Paris, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

A voter casts a ballot at a polling station for the first round of the parliamentary elections in Paris, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

French far right leader Marine Le Pen blows a kiss after delivering her speech after the release of projections based on the actual vote count in select constituencies in Henin-Beaumont, northern France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

French President Emmanuel Macron takes a selfie with supporters after voting in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, northern France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Yara Nardi, Pool via AP)

A voter casts a ballot at a polling station for the first round of the parliamentary elections in Paris, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Walter Sylvain reacts after voting in Soultz-Les-Bains, eastern France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

President of the Green Party Marine Tondelier speaks at Republique square during a protest against the far-right National Rally party which came out strongly ahead in first-round legislative elections, in Paris, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal arrives to vote for the first round of parliamentary elections in Vanves, outside Paris, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

Voters wait at a polling station to vote in the first round of the French parliamentary election, in Lyon, central France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron stand in the voting booth before voting in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, northern France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Yara Nardi, Pool via AP)

Far-right National Rally party president Jordan Bardella arrives to vote in Garches, outside Paris, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Manon Aubry, a member of the far-left France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party gestures shortly before the release of projections based on the actual vote count in select constituencies, in Paris, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

French far right leader Marine Le Pen, center, leaves after voting in the first round of the parliamentary election in Henin-Beaumont, northern France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A woman votes in Strasbourg, eastern France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron stand in the voting station before voting in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, northern France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (Yara Nardi, Pool via AP)

A voting assistant checks the voting card, right, and an identity card in Strasbourg, eastern France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

People gather at Republique plaza to protest the far-right National Rally, which came out strongly ahead in first-round legislative elections in Paris, Sunday, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

PHOENIX (AP) — Organizers of competing abortion measures in Nebraska said Wednesday that they collected enough signatures to get on the November ballot.

Officials with Protect Our Rights, which seeks to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, said they turned in 207,000 signatures to the Nebraska secretary of state’s office.

SBA Pro-Life America says 205,000 signatures have been submitted to enshrine Nebraska's current 12-week ban into the state constitution.

The secretary of state's office will go through the process of validating that each signature belongs to a registered voter in Nebraska over the next several weeks.

Petition initiatives seeking a constitutional amendment must collect enough signatures to equal 10% of registered voters in the state, or about 123,000. Additionally, 5% of the signatures must come from 38 of the state’s 93 counties — a requirement adopted years ago to ensure rural voters have some say in the petition process.

Organizers of the competing efforts have accused each other of misleading voters about the scope of their petitions in an effort to gather as many signatures as possible.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona abortion-rights supporters on Wednesday turned in more than double the signatures needed to put the issue on November’s ballot in the key swing state.

Organizers say they submitted 823,685 signatures, far above the 383,923 required from registered voters. The measure would add an amendment to the state constitution providing a fundamental right to an abortion.

County election officials have until Aug. 22 to verify whether enough of the petition signatures are valid and provide results to the Arizona secretary of state’s office.

Democrats have made abortion rights a central message since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and it is a key part of their efforts in this year’s elections. Activists in Nebraska and Arkansas also are planning to submit signatures this week for abortion ballot measures. In five other states, the issue already is set to go before voters this year: Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and South Dakota.

Arizona currently has a 15-week abortion ban. The proposed amendment would allow abortions until a fetus could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks, with exceptions to save the mother’s life or to protect her physical or mental health. It would restrict the state from adopting or enforcing any law that would prohibit access to the procedure.

Opponents say it goes too far and could lead to unlimited and unregulated abortions in Arizona. Supporters say a change in the state’s constitution is necessary to ensure that abortion rights cannot be easily erased by a court decision or legislative vote.

Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition that includes the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and Planned Parenthood of Arizona, turned in hundreds of boxes of signed petitions to the secretary of state's office.

Arizona for Abortion Access spokesperson Dawn Penich said it was the most signatures ever submitted for a citizens initiative in state history.

“That was our goal from the get-go,” Penich said. “We started collecting signatures in September and October 2023 and saw how passionate people are about this issue.”

In April, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a 1864 abortion ban that permitted abortions only to save the mother’s life and provided no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest, but the Republican-controlled Legislature voted for a repeal of the Civil War-era ban, and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs quickly signed. The 19th century law had been blocked since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that eliminated constitutional protections for abortion.

The current 15-week ban was signed into law in 2022 and includes exceptions in cases of medical emergencies and has restrictions on medication abortion. It also requires an ultrasound before an abortion is done, as well as parental consent for minors.

In Nebraska, organizers of a petition to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution have expressed confidence that they’ve gathered enough signatures to get it on the November ballot.

Allie Berry, campaign manager for Protect Our Rights, and organizers of a competing petition effort to codify Nebraska’s 12-week abortion ban in the state constitution would not say how many signatures they had gathered ahead of Wednesday’s deadline.

Both efforts, as well as a third that would ban abortion at all stages by deeming embryos as people, must turn in around 123,000 valid signatures — or 10% of registered voters in the state — to qualify for the ballot.

The total abortion ban effort in Nebraska started only eight weeks ago and is unlikely to gather the signatures it needs. The 12-week ban proposal — which kicked off in March thanks to a $500,000 donation from Nebraska Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts — has made a furious 11th-hour push to gather signatures but has telegraphed that it might not meet the threshold.

Supporters of an Arkansas proposal to scale back the state’s abortion ban face a Friday deadline to submit petitions to qualify for the November ballot. The group behind the measure, Arkansans for Limited Government, said on Facebook and Instagram on Tuesday that it still needed 8,200 signatures out of the 90,704 required.

The proposed constitutional amendment would prohibit the state from banning abortion within the first 18 weeks of pregnancy. It includes exceptions for rape, incest, fatal fetal anomalies and to protect the mother's life. It would also exempt abortions performed to protect the mother from a physical disorder, physical illness or physical injury.

Arkansas' current ban exempts abortions only to protect the mother’s life in a medical emergency.

Associated Press reporters Margery A. Beck in Omaha, Nebraska, and Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to reflect that the Arizona Supreme Court decision upholding the 1864 abortion ban was in April, not two months ago.

FILE - Hundreds of people gather at the Nebraska Capitol to protest against a proposed abortion ban, in Lincoln, on May 16, 2023. Organizers of competing petition efforts seeking to squelch or expand abortion access are looking to gather enough signatures before the early July 2024, deadline to make the November ballot. (AP Photo/Margery Beck, File)

FILE - Protesters chant, "one vote to save our lives," as they are heard in the legislative chamber during a final reading on LB574, the Let Them Grow Act, on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, at State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb. Organizers of competing petition efforts seeking to squelch or expand abortion access are looking to gather enough signatures before the early July 2024, deadline to make the November ballot. (Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP, File)

FILE - Protesters join thousands marching around the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix, protesting the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, June 24, 2022. Abortion rights advocates are set to deliver about 800,000 petition signatures Wednesday, July 3, 2024, in hopes of getting abortion rights on the November general election ballot. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

FILE - Volunteer signature gatherers Judy Robbins, left, and Lara Cerri, center, collect Grace Harders' signature on a petition to enshrine the right to abortion in Arizona's consitution, April 10, 2024, in Phoenix. Abortion rights advocates are set to deliver about 800,000 petition signatures Wednesday, July 3, 2024, in hopes of getting abortion rights on the November general election ballot. (AP Photo/Anita Snow, File)