Macron eyes win in parliamentary polls
paris — French voters went back to the polls on Sunday for the first round of parliamentary elections that are predicted to give President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party a commanding majority.
Macron has enjoyed a political honeymoon since he beat far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to become France’s youngest-ever president on May 7, naming a cabinet that straddles the left-right divide and making assured appearances in meetings with US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But the 39-year-old president has done only half the job. His Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move, REM) party, which he founded only 14 months ago, needs a clear majority in the National Assembly for him to push through the reforms he promised in his campaign.
A host of opinion polls show that Macron’s untested party could take 30 per cent of the first-round vote, putting it on track to secure a landslide in next Sunday’s second round. The centre-right Republicans and the Socialists fear heavy losses after their candidates failed to reach the presidential run-off for the first time in France’s postwar history.
Some predictions indicate the REM could win around 400 seats in the 577-seat chamber thanks to voters seeking to give the new president a strong mandate.
The party is already leading in 10 of the 11 French overseas constituencies, which held their firstround vote last weekend.
On Sunday, Macron, after shaking hands and posing for selfies with well-wishers, cast his ballot in the northern resort of Le Touquet where he and his 64-year-old wife Brigitte have a home.
Few MPs are expected to be elected in the first round.
If no candidate wins over 50 per cent, the two top-placed contenders go into the second round — as does any candidate who garners at least 12.5 percent of registered voters.
Polling stations in the largest cities are open until 8pm (1800 GMT) with exit polls released immediately afterwards.
At midday, turnout among the some 47 million eligible voters was 19.24 per cent, down from 21.06 per cent at the same point in the 2012 legislative elections. The REM has named many candidates who have never held office in an attempt to bring new blood to French politics.
They include Marie Sara, a retired bullfighter, who is taking on Gilbert Collard, a senior member of Le Pen’s National Front in southern France.
The Socialists’ demise could come into sharp focus if its leader Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, 65, is ousted from his Paris seat by REM junior minister Mounir Mahjoubi, who is just 33.
Macron is also trying to usher in an era of “cleaner” politics, banning lawmakers from employing family members or performing consultancy work while in office.
The measures follow the scandal that destroyed the presidential bid of Republicans candidate Francois Fillon, who has been charged over paying his wife Penelope and two of their children more than 900,000 euros ($1 million) as his parliamentary assistants with little work to show for it. —