How Macron Beat The Establishment in France’s Legislative Elections

President Emmanuel Macron’s party and its allies won 350 out of 577 seats in France’s lower house, cementing a legislative majority that will easily allow him to pass his reform program. The Republic on the Move (LREM) party, which is barely over a year old, obtained the largest margin of any party since 2002.

In 2012, the Socialists won control of the National Assembly, the lower house. In 2007, it was the center-right, now called the Republicans. This time around, the Socialists and their allies won only 45 seats, a near-wipeout. The Republicans and aligned parties obtained 136 seats, making them the largest opposition bloc, according to the Interior Ministry. Jean-Luc Melenchon’s France Unbowed, with its Communist allies, was just behind the Socialists at 27 seats, while Marine Le Pen’s National Front got eight seats, from two in the last parliament. 

Even with its substantial majority, Macron’s LREM didn’t do as well as polls had predicted. The Republicans in particular had support in the center and east of the country.

Fewer than one in every two French people voted in the second round, the lowest turnout rate ever in the 59-year-old Fifth Republic. It was the fourth time voters were asked to come to the polls in six weeks and their fatigue showed.