Image copyright LREM/Getty Image caption Among the new women MPs from civil society are Typhanie Degois (L), Brigitte Liso (C) and Mireille Robert

French President Emmanuel Macron is celebrating a convincing victory in National Assembly elections that gives him the mandate to push through wide-ranging social and economic reforms.

Three-quarters of the assembly are new members and a record 223 of the 577 MPs are women.

Mr Macron's fledgling La République en Marche (LREM) won 308 seats with 43% of the vote.

But the 42.64% turnout is a record low for modern-day France.

And of the 20 million French who did vote, almost 10% left their ballots blank or spoilt.

Together with its centrist MoDem allies, LREM now forms a bloc of 350 seats, well over the 289 seats needed to control parliament.

Just how staggering is this result?

The election result means that a party that only began life in April 2016 now has complete control of France's lower house of parliament and that means the president can press on with steering through his broad programme of reform.

"He now has his majority, beyond all his hopes," warned commentator Etienne Lefebvre. "Undoubtedly that will make his task easier but it'll also increase expectation."

In line with tradition, the government, formed last month under Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, resigned on Monday in a post-election formality.

The president then reappointed Mr Philippe as prime minister and asked him to form a new cabinet.

The old political guard in the assembly is a shadow of its former self. The centre-right Republican-led grouping has 137 seats, and the outgoing Socialists 44.

For the first time, the far-left La France Insoumise (France unbowed) enters parliament with 27 seats while the far-right National Front (FN) has increased its number to eight, including leader Marine Le Pen.

So who are the ones to watch?

Never has the French parliament had so many women MPs - 38.65% of the total - and that is largely down to President Macron's policy of equal gender selection. In his party alone, 47% of deputies are women.

Many of LREM's MPs have come from across civil society:

The youngest in the party is law graduate Typhanie Degois, aged 24

Renowned mathematician Cédric Villani, 43, is known for his unique dress sense including large spider brooches

Former police commander Jean-Michel Fauvergue led the elite RAID unit's response to the jihadist attack on the Bataclan in Paris

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Former police commander Jean-Michel Fauvergue, tech entrepreneur Mounir Mahjoubi and mathematician Cédric Villani are among the best known LREM figures to enter the assembly

Tech entrepreneur Mounir Mahjoubi is one of the leading lights of the Macron team, and behind his impressive digital campaign

Economist Hervé Berville survived the Rwandan genocide

Paris barrister Laetitia Avia has been active in projects in sub-Saharan Africa

Other LREM deputies include éclair entrepreneur Brigitte Liso, organic farmer Sandrine Le Feur, head teacher Mireille Robert and entrepreneur Patrice Perrot.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Economist Hervé Berville, an orphan from the Rwandan genocide, eased to victory in Brittany

Who will fight Macron all the way?

FN leader Marine Le Pen was Mr Macron's main challenger for the presidency and before now has never held a parliamentary seat. While her close adviser Florian Philippot failed to get elected, she is joined by her partner, Louis Alliot, and another senior FN figure, Gilbert Collard.

The party has the youngest MP in Ludovic Pajot, 23. It is short of the 15 seats needed to form a parliamentary group, which has the power to set the political agenda.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Jean-Luc Mélenchon was re-elected as an MP five years after losing his seat

Many of the loudest voices from the left have gone but Jean-Luc Mélenchon of La France Insoumise has vowed to challenge Mr Macron's plans to reform labour laws, arguing the president does not have the "legitimacy to enforce the social coup d'état he had planned".

While the unions may lead opposition outside the assembly, Mr Mélenchon says he will not cede an inch of ground without a fight.

The most powerful opposition will come from the Republicans although the rise of LREM has left their party divided. Gone are big-name leaders like Nicolas Sarkozy, François Fillon and Alain Juppé. Some in the party have offered to work with the new government but others, like Eric Ciotti, see them as traitors.

What does Macron want to do?

He has a sweeping list of reforms planned to revive France's economy, from simplifying labour laws to lowering unemployment and cutting corporation tax from 33% to 25%.

A large mandate will give him the confidence to take on France's powerful unions but a powerful challenge is likely.

The Macron government wants to make budget savings of €60bn (£51bn; $65bn), so that France sticks to the EU's government deficit limit of 3% of GDP (total output). Public servants would be cut in number by 120,000 - through natural wastage, possibly to soften opposition from France's powerful unions.

The new president would simultaneously reinvest €50bn and create a separate €10bn fund for renewing industry.

What are French President Macron's policies?

Can Macron's party keep its promises?

Image copyright AFP Image caption Emmanuel Macron is enjoying a honeymoon period as president - but will it last?

It is clear LREM has an absolute majority, quite a feat for a party that appeared for the first time in 2016.

But the low turnout in the parliamentary elections indicates a high level of disenchantment among French voters. And the absolute majority that President Macron achieved was smaller than expected.

French commentators believe he has been given the powers to push through the reforms he promises. But voters have not handed him a blank cheque as the weakened Republicans will soon find their voice in opposition.</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.</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>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>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>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>French President Emmanuel Macron’s party is on course for an overwhelming parliamentary majority after today’s first round of voting for the National Assembly that left traditional parties in disarray. Forecasts based on partial results showed Macron continuing his centrist revolution, with his Republique en Marche party (Republic on the Move, REM) and its ally MoDem tipped to win between 390 and 445 seats in the 577-member National Assembly in next Sunday’s second round.

“France is back,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe declared triumphantly. “For the past month, the president has shown confidence, willingness and daring in France and on the international stage,” Philippe said, calling the result a vindication of Macron’s “winning strategy”. The vote was marked by record low turnout of 49 percent, reflecting the fatalism among Macron’s opponents in the face of his seemingly unstoppable advance, experts said.

The right-wing Republicans — who had hoped to rebound from their defeat in the presidential vote — were shown trailing in second with a predicted 80-132 seats while Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front (FN) was forecast to garner between one and 10 seats. The FN’s result showed the party struggling to rebound from Le Pen’s bruising defeat by Macron in the presidential run-off. FN vice-president Florian Philippot admitted to “disappointment” and called on voters to “mobilise massively” for the June 18 second round.

The worst losses, however, were for the Socialists of Macron’s predecessor Francois Hollande, who were shown dropping a staggering 200 seats. Conceding the party was facing “unprecedented” losses, PS chief Jean-Christophe Cambadelis appealed to voters to rally behind Macron’s rivals to avoid the president monopolising power. Parliament risked having “no real oversight powers and no democratic debate worth speaking of,” he warned. Republicans leader Francois Baroin also cautioned against all the power being “concentrated in one party”.

The estimates based on partial results showed Macron’s year-old REM and MoDem winning 32.2-32.9 percent in the first round, ahead of the Republicans on 20.9-21.5 percent and the FN on 13.1-14 percent. Few MPs are expected to be elected outright on Sunday. If no candidate wins over 50 percent, the two top-placed contenders go into the second round — along with any other candidate who garners at least 12.5 percent of registered voters. France’s youngest-ever president has been credited with restoring a lost sense of national pride since winning the top office last month at 39.

He has won praise for appointing a balanced cabinet that straddles France’s long-entrenched left-right divide and taking a leading role in Europe’s fight-back against US President Donald Trump on climate change. If the seat projections are confirmed next week, he will have a strong mandate to push through the ambitious labour, economic and social reforms he promised on the campaign trail. More than 50,000 police were on patrol during the vote, with France still jittery after a wave of jihadist attacks at home and across the Channel in Britain.

Macron, who had never held elected office before becoming president, fielded political novices in around 200 constituencies — part of his bid to rejuvenate the assembly. They include Marie Sara, a retired bullfighter, who is taking on FN stalwart Gilbert Collard in southern France and 33-year-old junior digital economy minister Mounir Mahjoubi who went up against PS boss Cambadelis in northeast Paris. Macron is also trying to usher in an era of cleaner politics. His government’s first bill proposes to ban lawmakers from employing family members or performing consultancy work while in office.

The measures follow the scandal that destroyed the presidential bid of Republicans candidate Francois Fillon, who has been charged over payments to his wife and two of his children for suspected fake jobs as parliamentary assistants. Fillon denies the charges. Macron’s party has largely avoided controversy but one of his ministers who is running for re-election in Brittany, Richard Ferrand, is being probed over a property deal involving his girlfriend. Forecasts show Le Pen’s party will struggle to win the 15 seats it would need to form a parliamentary group and help shape the assembly’s agenda.

The radical-left France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party of Jean-Luc Melenchon who finished fourth in the presidential race also fell short of expectations. His camp was tipped to only take 10-23 seats. Macron has urged voters to back his reform proposals including an overhaul of the rigid rules governing the job market, blamed by many economists for holding back growth. The president was economy minister in the Socialist government that began loosening the labour laws last year, sparking mass demonstrations that lasted for months.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>French President Emmanuel Macron's party is on course for an overwhelming parliamentary majority, after first round of voting for the National Assembly left traditional parties in disarray.

Projections showed Macron widening his centrist revolution, with his Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move, REM) party and its ally MoDem tipped to win between 400 and 445 seats in the 577-member National Assembly in next Sunday's second round.

Such a share would give Macron one of the biggest parliamentary majorities for 60 years.

"For the past month, the president has shown confidence, willingness and daring in France and on the international stage," Philippe said, calling the result a vindication of Macron's "winning strategy".

But the vote was marked by record low turnout of 49 per cent, possibly reflecting fatalism among Macron's opponents in the face of his seemingly unstoppable advance, experts said.

The right-wing Republicans -- who had hoped to rebound from their humiliation in the presidential vote -- were shown trailing in second with a predicted 70-130 seats while Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front (FN) was forecast to garner between one and 10 seats.

The FN's result showed the party is struggling to rebound from Le Pen's bruising defeat by Macron in the presidential run-off.

The FN's deputy leader Florian Philippot admitted to "disappointment" and called on voters to "mobilise massively" for the second round.

The worst losses, however, were for the Socialists of Macron's predecessor Francois Hollande, who are predicted to lose a staggering 200 seats.

The party's chief Jean-Christophe Cambadelis and its failed presidential candidate Benoit Hamon both lost their seats.

Conceding that the party was facing "unprecedented" losses, Cambadelis appealed to voters to rally behind Macron's rivals to avoid the president monopolising power.

Parliament risked having "no real oversight powers and no democratic debate worth speaking of," he warned.

Former Republicans party leader Jean-Francois Cope said the results were "a disaster".

"It's the continuation of the real disaster that the presidential election was... We need to rebuild everything," he told BFMTV.

Official final results released early today showed Macron's one-year-old REM and MoDem winning 32.32 per cent in the first round, ahead of the Republicans on 21.56 per cent and the FN on 13.20 per cent.

If no candidate wins over 50 per cent, the two top-placed contenders go into the second round -- along with any other candidate who garners at least 12.5 per cent of registered voters in the district.

France's youngest-ever president at 39, Macron has gained praise for appointing a balanced cabinet that straddles the left-right divide and taking a leading role in Europe's fight-back against US President Donald Trump on climate change.

If the seat projections are confirmed next week, he will have a strong mandate to push through the ambitious labour, economic and social reforms he promised on the campaign trail.

Macron, who had never held elected office before becoming president, will also have succeeded in ushering in a younger and more diverse parliament with more women and ethnic minorities.

His party fielded political novices in around 200 constituencies.

They include Marie Sara, a retired bullfighter, who went through to a runoff against FN stalwart Gilbert Collard in southern France, and star mathematician Cedric Villani.

Macron is also trying to bring in an era of cleaner politics. His government's first bill proposes to ban lawmakers from employing family members or performing consultancy work while in office.

The measures follow the scandal that destroyed the presidential bid of Republicans candidate Francois Fillon, who has been charged over payments to his wife and two of his children for suspected fake jobs as parliamentary assistants. Fillon denies the charges.

Macron's party has largely avoided controversy but one of his ministers who is running for re-election in Brittany, Richard Ferrand, is being probed over a property deal involving his girlfriend.

Forecasts show Le Pen's party will struggle to win the 15 seats it would need to form a parliamentary group and help shape the assembly's agenda.

The radical-left France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party of Jean-Luc Melenchon who finished fourth in the presidential race also fell short of expectations. His camp was tipped to only take 10-23 seats.

Macron has urged voters to back his reform proposals including an overhaul of the rigid rules governing the job market, blamed by many economists for holding back growth.</s>PARIS — Emmanuel Macron’s new 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 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 La Republique En Marche party, along with its centrist Modem allies, was on course to win around 33 per cent of the vote.

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.

The nearest rival, the conservative Republicans, were trailing on around 20 per cent, another bitter blow for the mainstream Right, who 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. Francois Baroin, their leader, called on Right-wingers to turn out en masse next Sunday, saying: “Our country expects balanced powers, not concentrated in a single party.”

Perhaps the biggest upset of the night was the poor showing of the far-Right Front National, which only won around 13 per cent of the vote compared to 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 northern Henin-Beaumont district with 45 per of the vote, and will face a duel with a Macron candidate in round two in her third attempt to win a seat.

Meanwhile, the far-Left La France Insoumise party was seen as clinching around 12 per cent of the vote, and could win 10 to 20 seats.

The biggest losers of all were the Socialist Party, which only mustered around seven per cent of the vote – a catastrophic collapse five years after winning a parliamentary majority under the previous administration of historically unpopular ex-president Francois Hollande. That could see them plummet, with Green and radical allies, to 30-40 seats.

Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, the party’s secretary general, called it an “unprecedented setback for the Left and notably for the Socialist Party”.

He added: “It is neither healthy nor desirable for a president who gathered only 24 percent 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 French politics that began with Mr Macron’s election on May 7, further punishing the traditional Left and Right and leaving no single strong opposition force.

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 percent of the support of registered voters advance to the second round.</s>France's newly-elected President looks set to cement his grip on power as first-round parliamentary election results suggested that his fledgling political party is set to win a stunning majority.

Emmanuel Macron took the top job in a major upset that saw him face a final run-off against the National Front's Marine Le Pen as voters rejected both the traditional main parties.

He has pledged a programme of reform but relies on getting a working majority for his party, named En Marche!, just a year after it was formed.

Results from the first-round of elections suggested that gamble had paid off, with voting data showing his party winning by a large margin.

The near-final tally pointed to a legislative majority so crushing that Mr Macron's rivals fretted that the 39-year-old president will be able to govern France almost unopposed for his full five-year term.
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.