text:  The voters had other ideas. With the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics just a couple of weeks away, allow me, if you will, an Olympic analogy. The national rally may have won the heat, but it found itself relegated to the bronze medal position in the final. A left-wing coalition called the New Popular Front gained the largest number of seats, and a centrist group allied to President Macron was next on the podium, with the far right squeezed out in dozens of races by the left and the centre, combining forces tactically.