PARIS (AP) — Voters in France’s overseas territories and living abroad started casting ballots Saturday in parliamentary runoff elections that could hand an unprecedented victory to the nationalist far right.
Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration party National Rally came out on top of first-round voting last Sunday, followed by a coalition of center-left, hard-left and Greens parties – and President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance in a distant third.
The second-round voting began Saturday off the Canadian coast in the North Atlantic territory of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, and follows in French territories in the Caribbean, South Pacific and the Indian Ocean, along with French voters living abroad.
The elections wrap up Sunday in mainland France. Initial polling projections are expected when the final voting stations close at 8 p.m. Paris time (1800 GMT), with early official results expected late Sunday and early Monday.
Macron called the snap legislative vote after the National Rally won the most votes in France in European Parliament elections last month.
The party, which blames immigration for many of France’s problems, has seen its support climb steadily over the past decade and is hoping to obtain an absolute majority in the second round. That would allow National Rally leader Jordan Bardella to become prime minister and form a government that would be at odds with Macron’s policies on Ukraine, police powers and other issues.
Preelection polls suggest that the party may win the most seats in the National Assembly but fall short of an absolute majority of 289 seats. That could result in a hung parliament.
Macron has said he won’t step down and will stay president until his term ends in 2027, but is expected to be weakened regardless of the result.
Follow AP coverage of global elections at https://apnews.com/hub/global-elections/
FILE - French President Emmanuel Macron walks back during a ceremony at the Invalides monument, Wednesday, Feb.7, 2024. French President Emmanuel Macron's expected political failure in decisive parliamentary elections Sunday may paralyze the country, weaken him abroad and overshadow his legacy, just as France is about to be in the global spotlight as host of the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen arrives at the National Rally party headquarters, Thursday, July 4, 2024 in Paris. The National Rally secured the most votes in the first round of the early legislative elections on June 30 but not enough to claim an overall victory that would allow the formation of France's first far-right government since World War II. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Statue of Republique plaza is decorated by flags as people gather at a protest against the far-right, Wednesday, July 3, 2024 in Paris. French opposition parties and associations are trying to block a landslide victory for Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally in next Sunday's second round of legislative elections. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
People gather at Republique plaza in a protest against the far-right, Wednesday, July 3, 2024, in Paris. French opposition parties and associations are trying to block a landslide victory for Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally in next Sunday's second round of legislative elections. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
Obie Williams said he could hear babies crying and branches battering the windows when he spoke with his daughter on the phone last week as Hurricane Helene tore through her rural Georgia town.
Kobe Williams, 27, and her month-old twin boys were hunkering down at their trailer home in Thomson, Georgia, with her mother, Mary Jones, who had been helping her take care of the babies. Williams’ father sensed his daughter was fearing for her safety, and she promised her father she would heed his advice to shelter in the bathroom with her babies until the storm passed.
The single mother had been sitting in bed holding sons Khyzier and Khazmir and chatting on the phone with various family members while the storm raged outside.
Minutes later, she was no longer answering their calls.
Jones, who was on the other side of the trailer, described hearing a loud crash as a tree fell through the roof of her daughter’s bedroom.
“Kobe, Kobe, answer me, please,” Jones cried out in desperation, but she received no response.
Kobe and the twins were found dead.
“I’d seen pictures when they were born and pictures every day since, but I hadn’t made it out there yet to meet them,” Obie Williams told The Associated Press days after the storm ravaged eastern Georgia. “Now I’ll never get to meet my grandsons. It’s devastating.”
The babies, born Aug. 20, are the youngest known victims of a storm that had claimed 200 lives across Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and the Carolinas as of Thursday. Among the other young victims are a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy from about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south in Washington County, Georgia.
“She was so excited to be a mother of those beautiful twin boys,” said Chiquita Jones-Hampton, Kobe’ Jones’ niece. “She was doing such a good job and was so proud to be their mom.”
Jones-Hampton, who considered Kobe a sister, said the family is in shock and heartbroken.
In Obie Williams’ home city of Augusta, 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of his daughter’s home in Thomson, power lines stretched along the sidewalks, tree branches blocked the roads and utility poles lay cracked and broken. The debris left him trapped in his neighborhood near the South Carolina border for a little over a day after the storm barreled through.
He said one of his sons dodged fallen trees and downed power lines to check on Kobe, and he could barely bear to tell his father what he found.
Many of his 14 other children are still without power in their homes across Georgia. Some have sought refuge in Atlanta, and others have traveled to Augusta to see their father and mourn together, he said.
He described his daughter as a lovable, social and strong woman. She always had a smile and loved to make people laugh, he said.
And she loved to dance, Jones-Hampton said.
“That was my baby,” Williams said. “And everybody loved her.”
This story has been updated to clarify the circumstances of the deaths after further conversations with family members.
Andy Brown takes a break on top of what remains of a tree that destroyed his SUV when it fell during Hurricane Helene on in Augusta, Ga., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., greets people who were impacted by Hurricane Helene in Augusta, Ga., Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, during a visit with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Volunteers for Operation BBQ Relief prepare meals for people without power or water, Oct. 1, 2024, in Augusta, Georgia. (AP Photo / Jeffrey Collins)
Andy Brown uses a chain saw to cut apart a tree that destroyed his SUV when it fell during Hurricane Helene on in Augusta, Ga., Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Undated photos twin brothers Khazmir Williams and Khyzier Williams, who were killed along with their mother Kobe Williams, in their home in Thomson, Ga., by a falling tree during Hurricane Helene on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Obie Lee Williams via AP)
This undated photo shows Kobe Williams, who was killed with her twin sons Khazmir Williams and Khyzier Williams in their home in Thomson, Ga., by a falling tree during Hurricane Helene on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Obie Lee Williams via AP)
This undated photo combo shows from left, Kobe Williams, and her twin sons Khazmir Williams and Khyzier Williams who were killed in their home in Thomson, Ga., by a falling tree during Hurricane Helene on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (Obie Lee Williams via AP)
