Macron heading for historic election win
But rivals warn that a record low turnout in the legislative elections show French democracy is ‘ill’
Emmanuel Macron’s party is on course to secure the largest majority in almost 60 years in France’s legislative elections. However, although the president’s La République En Marche party and its Modem ally are expected to win up to 445 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly, the turnout of 50 per cent was the lowest in modern French history. Marine Le Pen’s Front National was set to win just 13 per cent of the vote.
EMMANUEL MACRON’S party is on course to secure a historic majority in parliament after the first round of legislative elections, turbo-charging the French president’s chances of driving through crucial economic reforms.
But the massive showing just four weeks after Mr Macron’s surprise triumph in the presidential election was marred by a turnout of below 50 per cent, the lowest in modern French history. Rivals warned it suggested French democracy was “ill”.
Defying expectations that his new political party would struggle to wrest control of parliament from the traditional Right and Left, Mr Macron’s La République En Marche (REM) party, along with its centrist Modem allies, won 28 per cent of votes, with 94 per cent of votes counted.
While many variables remain ahead of next Sunday’s second round, pollsters predicted the score could see REM, only created 14 months ago, and its ally take 415-445 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly – well over the 289 required for a majority.
“France is back,” said Mr Macron’s prime minister, Edouard Philippe. “For the third time running, millions of you have confirmed your attachment to the president’s new project of renewal.” The nearest rival, the conservative Republicans, were trailing on 16 per cent, another bitter blow for the mainstream Right, which only a few months ago had expected to win both the presidency and a parliamentary majority. They stand to lose more than half their current seats to end up with 80 to 100, according to the exit polls.
Perhaps the biggest upset was the poor showing of the far-right Front National, which won only 14 per cent of the vote compared with 23 per cent in the first round of presidential elections. The drop could hand it as few as one to four seats, well short of the 15 it requires for a parliamentary group.
Leader Marine Le Pen said that despite the “catastrophic” abstention levels, her party could still win the day in “several constituencies”. She came top in the Hénin-beaumont district with 45 per cent of the vote and will face a duel with a Macron candidate in round two in her third attempt to win a seat.
The far-left La France Insoumise party clinched about 12 per cent of the vote and could win 10-20 seats. The biggest losers were the Socialist Party, which only mustered about seven per cent of the vote – five years after winning a parliamentary majority under the previous administration of historically unpopular ex-president François Hollande. That could see them plummet, with Green and radical allies, to 30-40 seats.
Jean-christophe Cambadelis, the party’s secretary general, was eliminated from the run-off in Paris, as was its defeated presidential candidate, Benoît Hamon.
Mr Cambadelis added: “It is neither healthy nor desirable for a president who gathered only 24 per cent of the vote in the first round of the presidentials and who was elected in the second round only by the rejection of the extreme Right should benefit from a monopoly of national representation.”
The result looks set to confirm the dramatic shake-up of French politics that began with Mr Macron’s election on May 7, leaving no single strong opposition.
To win in the first round, candidates need an absolute majority and support from at least a quarter of the district’s registered voters. Otherwise, all contenders who get at least 12.5 per cent of the support of registered voters advance to the second round.
Six ministers running for MP were on course to reach the run-off, including Richard Ferrand, the minister for social cohesion, who is under preliminary investigation over a real estate controversy. They have been told they will have to leave the cabinet if they lose their parliamentary election.