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Russia doesn’t have hopes in connection with election outcome in France — Kremlin

According to Dmitry Peskov, "it is definitely better if those political forces emerge victorious that would support efforts to restore our bilateral relations"

MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. Russia is not pinning too much hope on the outcome of French parliamentary elections for improving relations between the countries, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"For Russia, it is definitely better if those political forces emerge victorious that would support efforts to restore our bilateral relations. But so far we do not see a clearly expressed political will for this in anyone. So, we do not cherish any high hopes or illusions in this regard," he said, when asked whether the Kremlin views the win of left-wing forces in France to be better than a right-wing victory would have been.

According to the French newspaper Le Monde, which cites data from the country’s Interior Ministry, the New Popular Front alliance got 182 seats in the 577-member National Assembly following Sunday’s second round of elections. The second place went to the president's Ensemble coalition, with 168 seats. The third-largest faction will be the right-wing National Rally party, with 143 lawmakers.

This means none of the main political forces received an absolute majority in the lower house of parliament, making it hard to form a new cabinet. French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said he would resign on Monday.

French President Emmanuel Macron called early elections to the legislature on June 9, following the presidential coalition's defeat in the European Parliament elections. The first round of the elections was held on June 30.