By Hajer M'tiri
PARIS (AA) - French President Emmanuel Macron's La Republique En Marche! (LREM) political movement and its allies look set to win a landslide majority in Sunday’s elections.
According to exit polls released after voting ended on Sunday evening, Macron's LREM and its ally, the centrist MoDem party, will return 360 lawmakers to the National Assembly's 577-seat chamber -- far more than the 289 needed for an absolute majority.
This victory for the LREM -- a movement launched by Macron less than a year ago, and fielding a team of political novices -- is being viewed as a slap for mainstream French parties.
The center-right Republicains and their allies have trailed behind, with around 133 seats.
France’s Socialist Party and its allies are projected to win just 34 seats, a dramatic collapse from its previous haul of 277 seats.
Jean-Luc Melenchon’s far-left La France insoumise (Unbowed France) party and its Communist supporters are expected to hold 30 seats.
The far-right National Front of recently defeated presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is predicted to win a mere six seats.
-Abstainers
However, Macron's victory looks to have been marred by a record-low voter turnout, calling into question his government’s legitimacy and his ability to implement reforms.
Exit polls such as Ipsos/Sopra Steria and Elabe have projected abstention rates of between 57 and 58 percent.
According to the Interior Ministry, turnout at 5 p.m. local time (1500 GMT) in Paris was very low -- only 35.33 percent.
This is well down from 46.42 percent seen in the 2012 election and 40.75 percent in the first round of voting in these legislative elections on June 11.
Official and complete results will be published in early hours of Monday morning.