MACRON WINS LARGE MAJORITY

However, it falls short of predicted landslide

PRESIDENT Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move, REM) party swept to a large majority in parliamentary elections on Sunday, although it fell short of a predicted landslide.

Macron’s year-old party and their allies won 351 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, according to final results shown after the second round of an election, which had eliminated many high-profile figures.

The party Macron founded just 16 months ago has re-drawn the French political map, although the winning score was considerably lower than the 470 seats predicted by some prevote surveys.

But it gave the 39-year-old president one of France’s biggest post-war majorities, strengthening his hand in implementing his programme of business-friendly reforms.

“A year ago, no one would have imagined such a political renewal,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said.

“It is down to the president’s desire to breathe new life into democracy and to the French people who want to give Parliament a new face.”

Macron’s success was tem- pered by a record low turnout of just under 44 per cent, leading his opponents to claim he had no groundswell of support.

REM routed the Socialists and heavily defeated the right-wing Republicans, while the far-right National Front (FN) of Marine Le Pen — whom Macron defeated in the presidential run-off on May 7 — had a disappointing night.

Le Pen entered Parliament for the first time in her career in one of at least eight seats won by the FN, but the party fell well short of its 15-seat target.

Le Pen’s victory in the northern former coal-mining town of Henin-Beaumont was a rare bright spot for her nationalist and anti-EU party that was once hoping to emerge as the principal opposition to Macron.

She insisted that FN still had a key role to play, saying: “We are the only force of resistance to the watering down of France, of its social model and its identity.”

The Socialists were the biggest losers, punished for the high unemployment, social unrest and lost national confidence that marked their five years in power.

The party of former president Francois Hollande shed more than 250 seats, obtaining just 29 seats.

“The rout of the Socialist Party is undeniable,” said French Socialist Party leader Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, who lost his seat in the first round and resigned his position on Sunday night.

Former Socialist prime minister Manuel Valls narrowly retained his seat after a dogfight with a hard-left candidate in the Paris suburbs who demanded a recount amid noisy protests.

But former education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a onetime Socialist star, was beaten by a REM candidate in the central city of Lyon, while former labour minister Myriam El Khomri lost to Macron-supporting candidate Pierre-Yves Bournazel in the capital.

The Republicans fared better than the Socialists, hanging on to 131 seats, down from over 200 in the last parliament, and remained the main opposition party. AFP