Macron’s party gears up for poll assault today

paris — The year-old centrist party of French President Emmanuel Macron prepared on Saturday for the first round of parliamentary elections looking set to grab the lead in the race for a clear majority.

Macron swept away far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to win the presidency on May 7, but has only achieved half the job.

Macron’s Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move, REM) party, which he only founded in April 2016 as a platform for his presidential bid, now needs a commanding majority in the National Assembly for him to implement the reforms he promised on the campaign trail.

A host of opinion polls show Macron’s party could take around 30 per cent of the first-round vote on Sunday, which would put it in pole position to secure an absolute majority in the second round a week later.

That could equate to as many as 400 seats in the 577-seat chamber.

“A wave or a tsunami?” asked the front page of the leftwing daily Liberation on Saturday.

REM has already had a boost after its candidates came first in 10 of the 11 French overseas constituencies that have already voted.

The legislative elections are, like the presidential contest, held over two rounds.

If no candidate wins over 50 per cent in the first round, the two topplaced go into the second round — as well as any candidate who won the votes of over 12.5 per cent of the electorate. French voters have traditionally rallied behind their new leader in the legislative elections that always follow the presidential ballot.

Macron’s predecessors Francois Hollande in 2012, Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007 and Jacques Chirac in 2002 all won outright majorities. —