Macron's alliance may not win majority in 1st round of French general elections

By Esra Taskin

PARIS (AA) - With the first round of France’s general elections completed, French President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble (Together) alliance may not gain a majority in the National Assembly, according to exit polls Sunday.

Exit polls by polling firm Ipsos-Sopra Steria as of 8:00 p.m. local time (1800GMT) showed that the Ensemble alliance could get between 255 and 295 deputies in the 577-seat National Assembly in the first round.

Macron's La République En Marche! (LREM) party formed an alliance called Ensemble together with the Horizons and MoDem parties.

The left-wing parties – the Socialists, Greens, Communists and France Unbowed, which formed an alliance dubbed Nupes with the goal of securing an absolute majority of 289 seats and appointing Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of France Unbowed, as premier -- could have between 150 and 190 lawmakers.

Nupes stands for Nouvelle Union Populaire Écologique et Sociale and is challenging Macron's centrist Ensemble alliance.

The total number of deputies to represent various right-wing parties in parliament, including the center-right Republican Party (LR) and the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), would be between 50-80 and the far-right National Rally (RN) party could get 20-45 deputies.

Ipsos-Sopra Steria put the percentage of voters who did not go to the polls at 52.3%.

Moreover, the number of seats that the Ensemble alliance can achieve in parliament appears to be 275-310, while Nupes is predicted to get 180-210 seats, according to an Ifop-Fiducial poll.

According Ifop-Fiducial, the total number of deputies of various right-wing parties including the LR and UDI remains at 40-60, while RN alone could receive 5-25 deputies.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen garnered 53.96% in Pas-de-Calais' 11th district Sunday, putting her in a strong position to win the second round next Sunday, where she will face Nupes candidate Marine Tondelier.

Another far-right parliamentary candidate, Eric Zemmour, was eliminated in the first round of the general elections.

It is of great importance for Macron to obtain an absolute majority in the general election in order to fulfil his election promises and form the government.