June 11 (UPI) — French voters went to the polls Sunday to select new Parliament members, one month after electing Emmanuel Macron as president.
Macron is seeking a majority of the 577 seats for his centrist party, Republic on the Move. His party’s candidates represent a wide range, including students, the retired and a bullfighter.
Polls opened at 6 a.m. for the first round of the election. Candidates who win more than 50 percent of the vote will be elected. If not, all candidates who earn at least 12.5 percent of vote will go into the second round June 18, where the winner takes the seat.
Macron, 39, is an outsider after the center-right Republicans and the Socialists failed to reach the presidential runoff last month for the first time since World War II. Other candidates are from Marine Le Pen‘s far-right National Front and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far-left France Unbowed. Le Pen ran against Macron in the May 7 election. Former President Francois Hollande‘s Socialist Party had 280 seats.
In overseas voting, Macron’s candidates have won 10 out of the 11 seats. Opinion polls show he will win between 360 and 427 seats — easily a majority.
Turnout in the first round reached 19.24 percent by midday, the Interior Ministry said. That was below the 21.06 percent at the same time of day during the first round in 2012.
