France election: Macron party set for big parliamentary win

Source:BBC

The centrist party of French President Emmanuel Macron looks on course to win a landslide victory following the first round of parliamentary elections.

Projections show La République en Marche (Republic on the Move) and its MoDem ally set to win up to 445 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly.

The Socialists, France’s former ruling party, are seen losing 200 seats.

Traditional parties are urging voters to back Mr Macron’s rivals in a run-off vote to avoid him monopolising power.

Mr Macron’s party was established just over a year ago and many candidates have little or no political experience.

The final outcome will be decided in the second round of voting next Sunday.

What are the results?

With all the ballots counted, Mr Macron’s LREM and MoDem won 32.3% of the vote.

The centre-right Republicans had 21.5%, while the far-right National Front (FN) had 13.2%, followed by the far-left La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) on just over 11%.

The Socialists, previously France’s ruling party, and their allies won just 9.5%.

But turnout was sharply down, at 48.7% compared with 57.2% in the first round in 2012, which analysts said reflected a sense of resignation among Mr Macron’s opponents

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