Emmanuel Macron's party wins big in France, projections suggest

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"We want a big majority to be able to act and transform France over the next five years", Mounir Mahjoubi, a tech entrepreneur running under Macron's Republic On The Move (LREM) banner told Reuters as he canvassed support in his northern Paris constituency ahead of the vote.

"Chancellor Merkel: My honest congratulations to Emmanuel Macron for the great success of his party in the first round".

He warned voters against giving LREM an absolute majority next Sunday, saying it would result in "virtually no real opposition and we will have a National Assembly without any real counterbalance, without a democratic debate and not worthy of that name". Macron, an upstart centrist, formed his On the Move movement less than 14 months ago then turned it into a political party, promising to return politics to the people.

President Emmanuel Macron's fledgling party is set to trounce France's traditional main parties in a parliamentary election and secure a huge majority to push through his pro-business reforms, projections after the first round showed on Sunday (11 June).

With 94% of of first-round votes counted, Mr Macron's camp was comfortably leading with more than 32% of the vote.

Moreover, in the past decade, the presidents elected by French voters failed to bail the country out of social, economic and development dilemma.

Following his win in the presidential vote, Macron changed the name of his party of La Republique En Marche!

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

The next elections for the French Senate, the upper house, are scheduled for September 2017.

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The spread between French and German 10-year bond yields narrowed to 36.5 basis points, its lowest since Macron's victory in the Presidential election in May, as demand for French government debt rose.

But turnout was low, about 49 percent, which analysts said reflected a sense of resignation among Mr Macron's opponents. The party took less than 7.5 per cent of the vote. The Republicans would become the largest opposition force with 80-100 seats, Elabe projected, with the National Front seen winning 1 to four seats and the Socialist Party and other leftists 30-40 seats.

In spite of having the third highest popular vote, the far-right National Front of Marine Le Pen, is expected to win only between 1 and 5 seats. His party put forward 266 women candidates, while 219 come from outside politics.

If next Sunday's vote confirms the first round, Macron will have nearly no opposition in parliament, with the traditional main parties struggling to have their voices heard.

Prime Minister Edouard Phillipe, who was appointed by Mr Macron last month, announced "France is back" as the results rolled in.

Under French rules, they'll have to win a second, smaller round of voting next Sunday.

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.

Under Marine Le Pen, the FN has consistently improved its electoral scores, notching up records in past regional, European Parliament and presidential elections.

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