PARIS (dpa-AFX) – In the first round of the French parliamentary elections, the candidates in President Emmanuel Macron’s camp received slightly more votes than those of the new left-wing alliance. According to the preliminary official result, Macron’s center alliance got 25.75 percent of the votes nationwide. This was announced by the Interior Ministry in Paris on Monday night. The alliance of leftists, communists, greens and socialists led by left-wing politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon came to 25.66 percent and was therefore at a disadvantage. The difference was just 21,442 votes – with around 48.7 million eligible voters.
Nevertheless, according to forecasts, it can be assumed that the camp of the newly re-elected president will win the majority of the seats in the National Assembly in the second round of voting next Sunday. Because the complicated electoral system leads to sometimes serious differences between the percentage of votes and the distribution of seats – and the liberal candidates have better chances of intercepting voter migration after numerous candidates have left. It is uncertain whether the center forces will retain their absolute majority in the lower house of parliament and thus be able to implement Macron’s plans more easily.
According to figures from the Interior Ministry, voter turnout was only 47.51 percent, which was even lower than in the parliamentary elections five years ago.
The National Assembly participates in legislation and can overthrow the government with a vote of no confidence. A majority in the chamber is important for governing. In the first round only 2 of the 577 seats were allocated directly. The runoff elections decide on all other mandates./rbo/DP/zb