The left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) said it has a mandate to govern after it pulled off a surprise win the second round of the French parliamentary elections on Sunday, with the far right falling to third place, according to initial projections. The NFP, a new alliance that has brought together Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s hard-left La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), the Socialist Party, the Communist Party, The Ecologists and several smaller left-leaning groups, is projected to gain 177 to 198 of the 577 seats in the lower house, or National Assembly, broadcasters TF1 and France 2 predicted afte…