Who Won The French Election? Macron's Party Has A Great Day

UPDATE: Sunday, June 18, 2017, at 6:45 p.m. EDT: French newspaper Le Parisien reported French President Emmanuel Macron’s party La République en Marche, which he started last year, and ally Modem have secured 355 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly. En Marche won 319 of those seats while the Socialist party which had 284 seats previously, will with its allies maintain only 46 seats.

Macron, 39, won a decisive victory over far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen in the second round of voting in the presidential election in May, gaining 66 percent of the vote. Macron is a member of a brand new centrist party that he created.

This is the very first legislative election for En Marche, but now that his party has a majority in the Assembly. Macron can begin to work on his pro-European Union and economically liberal platform. His election was seen as a repudiation of the populist rhetoric espoused by Le Pen.

The Guardian reported turnout for Sunday’s voting was low, just 43 percent, especially in low-income areas.

“Through this vote, the French people have showed they preferred hope to anger, optimism to pessimism, confidence to closing in on oneself,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said. “Abstention is never good news for democracy and the low turnout meant the government had “an ardent obligation to succeed.”

Original story:

French President Emmanuel Macron’s party La République en Marche has won 42 percent of the vote with 75 percent of the votes counted, the Associated Press reported Sunday. The centrist party, which is allied with another centrist party, Modem, was started by Macron last year. The Financial Times reported the two parties are projected to control 355 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly.

The Socialist party had a terrible day and will keep only 34 of its previously held 284 seats.

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“Through their vote, a wide majority of the French have chosen hope over anger,” Prime Minister Edouard Phillipe told the AP. Philippe is a convert to Macron’s new party.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen of the National Front also won a seat despite losing the presidential race to Macron.