France's Macron set for biggest majority since De Gaulle - poll

Record ID: 878319

  • Title: France's Macron set for biggest majority since De Gaulle - poll
  • Date: 6th June 2017
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (FILE - JANUARY 31, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
  • Embargoed: 20th June 2017 15:52
  • Keywords: Socialist Party Front National The Republicans Republic on the Move polls elections legislative Macron
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • City: PARIS, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA0036K55DFR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Emmanuel Macron's party is set to win the biggest parliamentary majority for a French president since Charles de Gaulle's 1968 landslide, a survey of voter intentions for the coming legislative elections showed on Tuesday (June 6).
    A majority of such proportions would give Macron's government a strong mandate to push ahead with his economic reforms, starting with a pro-business overhaul of France's labour code.
    Macron's centrist Republic On The Move (LREM) - which did not exist a year ago and has turned the French political scene upside down - was seen winning 29.5 percent of the vote in the June 11 first round, the Ipsos Sopra-Steria poll found.
    With a solid lead ahead of other parties, LREM would go on to win 385-415 seats out of 577 seats in the lower house of parliament in a June 18 second round of voting, the poll projected.
    Not only was that the biggest majority projected by a poll for the election since Macron won the presidency in May, it would also be the strongest since voters rallied behind former president and wartime hero De Gaulle in 1968 after student revolts and nationwide general strikes.
    LREM's 29.5 percent first-round vote was seen leading the conservative Republicans and their allies on 23 percent. The far-right National Front was seen winning 17 percent and the hard-left France Unbowed on 12.5 percent. The party with the current majority, the Socialists, is projected to win only 8.5 percent in the first round - an "absolute disaster," according to political science expert Bruno Cautres, who added that The Republicans would emerge as the leading party in the opposition.
    After the first round eliminates any candidate who gathers less than 12.5 percent of the vote, Macron's candidates will be strongly placed across the country to win the decisive second round, pollsters say.
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