France begins voting in second round of parliamentary election

Voting stations opened in France on Sunday for the second round of parliamentary elections, with opinion polls indicating President Emmanuel Macron's centrist Republic on the Move party likely to win a massive majority in the lower house, Reuters reported.

Turnout could fall to a record low, in a sign of voter fatigue after seven months of roller-coaster campaigning and voting, and of disillusionment with politics that could complicate Macron's reform drive. </s> French voters went back to the polls on Sunday for the first round of parliamentary elections that are tipped to give President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party a commanding majority. Polling stations opened across France at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) and voting continued in the largest cities until 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) with exit polls released immediately afterwards. Macron has enjoyed a smooth start in the five weeks since he beat far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to become France’s youngest-ever president, naming a cabinet that crosses left-right lines and making a big impression at international summits. His untested Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move, REM) party, which he only founded in April 2016, now needs a clear majority in the National Assembly for him to push through the reforms he has promised. A host of opinion polls show Macron’s party taking around 30 percent of the vote on Sunday, putting it in pole position to secure a landslide in the second round next Sunday. Some predictions show REM could take around 400 seats in the 577-seat chamber.—AFP </s> French voters return to the polls today for parliamentary elections - a month after electing Emmanuel Macron as president.

Mr Macron will be hoping his centrist candidates will pick up the majority of the 577 seats.

Latest opinion polls suggest the party could end up with a landslide. </s> Official results will be released gradually as counting progresses through the night

Polling stations have opened in France for the second round of parliamentary elections.

Macron’s Republic on the Move party, known as En Marche! (LREM) and its centrist allies secured 32 percent of the vote in the first round last week and are tipped to gain between 440 and 470 seats in the National Assembly’s 577-seat chamber – more than the 289 necessary for an absolute majority.

The victory for LREM, which was launched by Macron less than a year ago, is considered a slap to mainstream parties.

The conservative Republicans are expected to be the biggest opposition group in parliament, with pollsters forecasting between 80 and 132 seats for them.

The Socialist Party, which ruled France until last month, and its allies are projected to win 20 to 30 seats less than its current 277.

The election also spells trouble for Marine Le Pen’s National Front (FN), seen with only between one and six seats when earlier it had hoped to secure a “massive” presence in parliament.

“You cannot leave the prospects for the assembly as they stand – our country needs an opposition to function,” Le Pen has said.

In a sign of voter fatigue after two primaries and a long presidential campaign, turnout is expected to be low on Sunday.

“People couldn’t care less about voting, what’s the point?,” said one voter. “MPs do nothing except get paid well”

Parties, including the Conservatives, Socialists and National Front, are urging their supporters to vote in greater numbers to try and force a coalition.

‘Politicians don’t like coalitions but French people like the idea of forcing different politicians to work together. Fabrice D’Almeida, a French historian, stated.

“I don’t think we’ll see a coalition this time but in the past it was a situation that worked.”

Voting will continue until 6pm (16:00 GMT) across France and 8 pm in major cities, with polling companies due to give estimates of the outcome shortly after polls close. </s> Paris: French voters go to the polls on Sunday in the first round of parliamentary elections with President Emmanuel Macron's party appearing well-placed to gain a commanding majority.

Macron has enjoyed a smooth start in the five weeks since he beat far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to become France's youngest-ever president, naming a cabinet that crosses left-right lines and making a big impression at international summits.

His centrist 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 clear majority in the National Assembly for him to push through the reforms he has promised.

A host of opinion polls show Macron's party could take around 30 per cent of the vote today, putting it in pole position to secure an absolute majority in the second round a week later.

That could translate to as many as 400 seats in the 577-seat chamber. REM has already had a boost after its candidates came first in 10 of the 11 French overseas constituencies that voted before the mainland.

If no candidate wins over 50 per cent in the first round, the two top-placed go into the second round - as well as any candidate who won the votes of over 12.5 percent of the electorate.

Polling stations open at 8 am (local time) and close in the largest cities at 8 pm (local time).

More than 50,000 police will be on patrol in a country still under a state of emergency following a wave of attacks that have killed more than 230 people since 2015.

In the latest incident, which took place on Tuesday, a 40-year-old self-radicalised Algerian was shot and wounded after attacking a policeman with a hammer outside Paris' Notre Dame cathedral.

French voters have traditionally rallied behind their new leader in the legislative elections that follow the presidential ballot.

Macron's predecessors Francois Hollande in 2012, Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007 and Jacques Chirac in 2002 all won outright majorities. Unlike Macron, however, they all came from long-established parties.

REM reflects the president's desire for a new brand of politics. Initially dismissed by Macron's opponents as a movement of young activists without any real roots, it will field 530 candidates on Sunday.

In a bid to renew the political scene, many have never stood for office before, such as Marie Sara, a rare female bullfighter, who is taking on a senior member of Le Pen's National Front in southern France, Gilbert Collard.

Macron has banned all REM candidates from employing family members if elected and they must not perform consultancy work while being lawmakers.

The edicts follow the scandal that sunk the presidential chances of Francois Fillon, candidate for the right-wing Republicans party, who is facing criminal charges for paying his wife Penelope more than 900,000 euros (USD 1.0 million) as his parliamentary assistant. </s> (CNN) France goes to the polls today with President Emmanuel Macron seeking the parliamentary majority he requires to bring about his political revolution.

The 39-year-old's La Republique En Marche (LREM) party, is hoping to make huge gains and inflict a further blow on the country's traditional ruling parties.

It would be a remarkable achievement for Macron, who won the French presidency last month without the support of a traditional mainstream party.

Instead, his En Marche! movement helped carry him to a convincing election victory over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.

Macron is now hoping his candidates, 50% of which are women, will be voted into Parliament.

He has drawn candidates from a cross-section of society with a former bullfighter, a Nobel Prize winner and a an ex-fighter pilot all hoping to win a seat.

Polls are set to close at 6 p.m. in some towns and 8 p.m. local time in Paris and other large cities (3 p.m. ET).

How does it work?

There are 7,782 candidates vying for the 577 seats in the lower house of France's Parliament -- so Macron's party needs 289 for a minimum majority.

To win a seat in the first round of voting, candidates need to win more than half of the votes which must account for at least a quarter of the registered voters.

If no candidate manages to achieve that target then all candidates who win at least 12.5% of registered voters will go into the second round, where the winner will advance to parliament.

While Macron's party is confident, the more traditional parties are expected to struggle.

Both the Republican and Socialist parties which have traditionally governed during the time of the Fifth Republic, are likely to suffer.

Macron's party are contesting 526 constituencies out of a possible 577. The party has put forward 266 women candidates, while 219 come from outside politics.

Why is this important for Macron?

The success of those parties, however, is likely to pale into insignificance should La Republique En Marche secure the mandate Macron requires to govern successfully.

Macron, who won the presidency on his platform of being a pro-European centrist, is hoping to carry out far-reaching reforms in order to overhaul the country's political system and economy.

France is suffering from high unemployment, a stagnant economy and security worries. The government has also struggled to cope with immigration and integration.

But for him to be able to carry out his program of reform, he needs to be able to govern -- and that means having a majority in parliament. </s> Amid heightened security, French voters began casting ballots for their next president Sunday in a first-round poll that's seen as a litmus test for the spread of populism around the world and a vote on the future of Europe.

More than 50,000 police and gendarmes were deployed to the 66,000 polling stations for Sunday's election, which comes after Thursday's deadly attack on the Champs-Elysees in which a police officer and a gunman were slain. The presidential poll is the first ever to be held during a state of emergency, put in place since the Paris attacks of November 2015.

Voters are choosing between 11 candidates in the most unpredictable contest in decades.

The vote "is really important, mainly because we really need a change in this country with all the difficulties we are facing and terrorism," said Paris resident Alain Richaud, who was waiting to cast his vote.

Opinion polls point to a tight race among the four leading contenders vying to advance to the May 7 presidential runoff, when the top two candidates will go head to head.

Polls suggest far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron, an independent centrist and former economy minister, were in the lead. But conservative Francois Fillon, a former prime minister, who was embroiled in a scandal over alleged fake jobs appeared to be closing the gap, as was far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon.

France's 10 percent unemployment, its lackluster economy and security were issues that top concerns for the 47 million eligible voters.

The election is widely seen as a vote on the future of the European Union — with most of the candidates railing against its institutions.

Both Le Pen and Melenchon — two candidates from opposite extremes of the political spectrum — could pull France out of the 28-nation bloc and its shared euro currency in a so-called "Frexit."

A French exit could spell the end of the EU.

If either candidate wins a spot in the runoff, it will be seen as a victory for the rising wave of populism reflected by the votes for Donald Trump in the U.S. and Brexit in Britain.

"It's definitely risky, but I have faith in the result even if an extreme candidate qualifies for the second round," said Beatrice Schopflin, who was queuing to vote in Paris.

Macron and Fillon are committed to European unity and would reform labor rules.

The candidates are voting throughout the day.

Meters from the polling station where Le Pen was heading to vote, several feminist activists from the Femen group were arrested after staging a topless protest against the far-right leader, who is the only major female contender in the race. Police intervened and stopped the commotion minutes before the 48-year-old arrived to cast her ballot in the northern town of Henin-Beaumont. No one was hurt.

Macron, meanwhile, was the image of serenity as he posed for selfies with voters after casting his ballot in the coastal town of Le Touquet in northern France alongside his wife, Brigitte Macron.

Fillon voted in Paris, but his wife — who's been handed preliminary charges for her role in the fake jobs scandal that rocked her husband's campaign — voted 250 kilometers (155 miles) away from him near their 14th century manor house in Sarthe.

This year's roller-coaster campaign has seen much controversy, but some voters appear to have become blasé or turned off from politics.

"There have been surprises, there have always been scandals," said Le Touquet resident Pierre-Antoine Guilluy.

Voter Marie-Christine Colrat said: "Listen, too many candidates. And candidates that caused us a lot of problems, I think that's not a good thing for France."

Unpopular incumbent President Francois Hollande, who pledged last year not to stand for re-election, voted in his political fiefdom of Tulle in Correze, southwestern France.

This year's Socialist party presidential candidate Benoit Hamon cast his ballot in Trappes, a Paris suburb. Melenchon also voted in Paris.

Political campaigning was banned from midnight Friday hours ahead of polls opening in France's far-flung overseas territories such as Guadeloupe, French Polynesia and French Guiana, which all voted a day early Saturday.

Associated Press writers Nadine Achoui-Lesage in Paris, Chris den Hond in Le Touquet and Alex Turnbull in Henin-Beaumont contributed to this report. </s> (CNN) Polls have opened Sunday for France's legislative elections and President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party is projected to win a huge majority in Parliament.

Such a margin of victory in the 577-seat house would give Macron, a pro-European centrist, the majority he craves to further his political revolution and would inflict a further blow on the country's traditional ruling parties.

Macron's party, founded just a year ago, won on the first-round of elections on June 11 with less than half of eligible voters going to the polls. Nonetheless, it represented a remarkable achievement for Macron, who won the French presidency last month without the support of a traditional mainstream party.

Instead, his En Marche! movement helped carry him to a convincing election victory over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.

The final results of the legislative elections will be confirmed after Sunday's second round of voting.

To win a seat outright in the first round of voting, candidates had to win more than half of the votes, which must account for at least a quarter of the registered voters.

If no single candidate managed to achieve that target, then all candidates who won at least 12.5% of registered voters advanced to the second round.

The winner from the second round will then advance to Parliament.

The novice La Republique En Marche party and its allies -- Mouvement Démocrate (MoDem) -- won a combined 32.3% of the vote in the election's first round. The established Les Républicains trailed with 15.8% of the vote.

Both the Republican and Socialist parties, which have traditionally governed during the time of the Fifth Republic, struggled with turnout.

Le Pen's right wing Front National party garnered 13.2% of the vote last Sunday and is expected to take between one and four seats. Jean-Luc Mélenchon's far-left party will likely claim between 10-20 seats after accounting for 11% of the vote in the first round.

The newly-elected president is leading a country suffering from high unemployment, a stagnant economy and security worries.

Macron is hoping to carry out the far-reaching reforms he promised during his campaign but first he needs a majority in Parliament. </s> Emmanuel Macron's party is on course to secure an historic majority in parliament after the first round of France’s 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 record low 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, early exit polls suggested Mr Macron’s La République En Marche (REM) party, along with its centrist Modem allies, was on course to win around 33 per cent of the vote.
Voters in France return to the polls after last month's presidential election for the first round of a legislative election, to begin choosing the 577 members of France's lower house. Opinion polls and exit polls predict that En Marche!, formed by newly elected President Emmanuel Macron, will pick up a majority of seats.