France was on course for a hung parliament in Sunday's election, with a leftist alliance unexpectedly taking the top spot ahead of the far right, in a major upset that was set to bar Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) from running the government, Paralel.Az reports quoting Reuters.

The result would mark a huge setback for the far right, which opinion surveys ahead of the vote had projected would win comfortably, before the left and centrist alliances cooperated by pulling scores of candidates from three-way races to build a unified anti-RN vote.

The RN was set to come third, according to pollsters' projections based on early results.

In his first reaction, its leader Jordan Bardella called the cooperation between anti-RN forces, known as the "republican front" a "disgraceful alliance" that he said would paralyze France.

The election will leave parliament divided in three big groups with hugely different platforms and no tradition at all of working together.