Macron looks to cement mandate as French elect new parliament

Paris: A month after Emmanuel Macron's election as French president, voters returned to the polls on Sunday for the first round of a parliamentary vote expected to give him a comfortable majority.

Turnout was markedly down, reflecting a sense of resignation among Macron's opponents faced with polls showing the 39-year-old set to sweep the board, buoyed by a deep desire for political renewal.

After nine hours of voting to elect the members of the National Assembly, only 40.75 per cent of the electorate had cast a ballot - one of the lowest levels in the first round of a parliamentary poll in six decades.

Macron has enjoyed a political honeymoon since he beat far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to become France's youngest-ever president on May 7.

He has won 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's decision to withdraw from a global climate accord.

But in order to push through the ambitious labour, economic and social reforms he promised on the campaign trail he needs a clear majority in parliament.

A host of opinion polls show that his untested year-old Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move, REM) party could take 30 percent of the first-round vote, putting it on track to secure a landslide in next Sunday's run-off round.

The centre-right Republicans and the Socialists fear heavy losses after their candidates failed to reach the presidential run-off for the first time in France's postwar history.

Some predictions indicate REM could win as many as 400 seats in the 577-seat chamber, with voters seeking to give the new president a strong mandate.

The party is already leading in 10 of 11 French overseas constituencies, which held their first-round vote last weekend.

Today, Macron posed for selfies with well-wishers after voting in the northern resort of Le Touquet where he and his 64-year-old wife Brigitte have a home.

Few MPs are expected to be elected in the first round.

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.

Polling stations in the largest cities are open until 8:00 pm with exit polls released immediately afterwards.

More than 50,000 police were on patrol in a country still jittery after a wave of jihadist attacks that have killed more than 230 people since 2015.

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

Macron, who had never held elected office before becoming president, has run novices seeking to emulate his success in around 200 constituencies - part of his bid to inject new blood in French politics.