Majority, rivals warn against monopoly
The leftwing Liberation daily called it the “quasiStalinist result”
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron’s rivals on Monday warned against handing him an overwhelming majority that would stifle debate after his party cruised to victory in the opening round of elections to the National Assembly.
Macron’s year-old centrist Republic on the Move (REM) party and its allies are tipped to clean up in the 577-member lower house of parliament, winning up to 445 seats, a historic tally for a post-war president.
The opposition and French press expressed concern over what the left-wing Liberation daily called the “quasi-Stalinist result”. The leader of the rightwing Republicans in the Paris area, Valerie Pecresse, appealed for a “civic surge”, warning of the risk of “groupthink”.
Record low turnout of 49% in Sunday’s first round detracted from the performance of Macron’s untested team, raising concerns over the strength of his mandate.
Government spokesman Christophe Castaner admitted that voter participation -- the lowest for six decades -- was “a failure of this election” and that Macron’s camp would need to reach out to those who stayed away.
Analyst Gael Sliman of Odoxa pollsters pinned the high abstention rate on voter fatigue after the presidential election and the apathy of those “who may not agree with Macron but do not want to block his path”.
“It’s a muted, incomplete victory, because he does enjoy not the backing of a majority of the French people,” Sliman told AFP.
The result confirmed the yearning for political renewal laid bare by Macron’s election.
After being routed in the first round of the presidential election, the Republicans and the Socialists who had alternated in power for six decades suffered further humiliation.
The Republicans were forecast to drop around half their seats while the Socialists were tipped for catastrophic losses of more than 200 seats.