PARIS (AP) — Pollsters are projecting that French President Emmanuel Macron’s party is in position to win a crushing parliamentary majority following the first round Sunday of legislative elections marked by widespread voter apathy.
Pollsters’ projected that as many as one-third of votes went to Macron’s camp in the first stage of the two-part election — putting his candidates comfortably ahead of all opponents going into the decisive second round of voting next Sunday for the 577 seats in the lower-house National Assembly.
Pollsters estimated that 400 seats or more could end up in the hands of the Macron camp — and that the opposition in parliament would be fragmented as well as small.
The record-low turnout rate, however, took some shine off the achievement for Macron’s Republic on the Move! — a fledgling party fighting its first-ever election and dedicated to providing France’s youngest-ever president with the legislative majority he needs to be effective and enact his promised program of far-reaching change for France.
Voter rejection of old-style, established politics — already seen in the May 7 presidential vote that handed power to first-time 39-year-old candidate Macron — was again felt in the legislative vote.
Pollsters projected a disastrous result for the Socialists that held power in the last parliament and that the conservative Republicans could end up with fewer than 130 seats.
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Associated Press writers Nicolas Garriga, Phillipe Sotto and Angela Charlton contributed to this report.
A good start, but that’s all. The party recruited many political neophytes. Will they develop the skills to effectuate a complex and difficult platform, or will they fragment into practical types and ideologues, perhaps of several varieties? That is the big question facing France. So, stay tuned.
I envy the French and the Canadians. Imagine being able to look at a photo of your head of government and not getting sick to your stomach.
This was a centrist victory, make no mistake about that, but diminished by the relatively low turnout.
It is hard to believe how a recently formed party has come to dominate the deeply entrenched establishment of France’s Fifth Republic in its 58th year. Let us see how the winner of the prestigious Fields Medal (mathematics), Cedric Villani, and his ilk offer fresh and thoughtful solutions in the legislature to France’s and Europe’s challenges.
You know, I’m getting a little tired of this narrative about being tarnished by a low turnout… because it inevitably turns into one of the same bullshit stories we always get about how a democratic victory is really a win for republicans. Repubs don’t ever sweat a small margin - they declare victory and a mandate. The Dems and our like-minded global counterparts should learn this lesson.