Macron Party set for big Parliamentary win
The centrist party of French President Emmanuel Macron looks on course to win a landslide victory following the first round of parliamentary elections.
As polls closed, projections showed La Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move) set to win more than 400 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly.
Mr Macron’s party was established just over a year ago and many candidates have little or no political experience.
The second round of the vote is held next Sunday.
Forecasts by two polling organisations gave LREM well over 30 per cent of first round votes.
But turnout was low, around 49 per cent, which analysts said reflected a sense of resignation among Mr Macron’s opponents. François Baroin, head of the centre-right Republicans, said it testified to the “deep divisions in French society”.
“In the first round of the presidential election, nearly one in two French people was ready to choose a radical solution,” he said.
“In the second round, 16 million voters refused to make a choice between Emmanuel Macron and the National Front by abstaining or returning a spoiled ballot. This time round the low turnout has been even more evident and that is extremely worrying.”
The BBC’s Hugh Schofield in Paris says everything suggests Mr Macron has won another crushing victory with the only significant opposition coming from the Republicans. The Socialists, who were most recently in power, are facing a historic wipe-out and the far-right National Front (FN) has also underperformed, he says. FN leader Marine Le Pen lost the presidential election to Mr Macron last month. Pollsters forecast the Republicans would win 20.9 per cent; the FN 13.1 per cent; and the Socialists with a grouping of leftwing parties 9 per cent. Mr Macron, 39, needs a majority to push through the changes that he promised in his campaign. He has already left an impression around the world, in particular for standing up to US leader Donald Trump on issues like climate change.