Sharjah24 – AFP: French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance was on track to win the largest number of seats in parliament after the first round of voting on Sunday, projections from polling firms showed, though it remains unclear if it will obtain a majority.
His Ensemble (Together) alliance was projected by four firms to win between 225 and 310 seats in the second round of voting on June 19, with a new leftwing coalition finishing second, for a projected 150 to 220 seats.
Macron would need to secure at least 289 of the National Assembly's 577 seats to have a majority for pushing through legislation during his second five-year term.
Both groups scored around 25-26 percent of the popular vote that saw fewer than half of registered voters cast a ballot, resulting in record-low turnout projected at 52-53 percent.
The far-right National Rally headed by Marine Le Pen, who lost to Macron in the presidential vote in April, got an estimated 19 percent of the vote, which could result in 10 to 45 seats, according to the projections.
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