The French president hopes to secure an absolute majority for difficult reforms.
In France, high-stakes voting has begun in the second round of parliamentary elections, with growing support for the left-wing alliance threatening the hopes of recently re-elected President Emmanuel Macron for an absolute majority.
Voting began at 8 a.m. (6 p.m. GMT) on Sunday and will end at 8 p.m.
Macron faces a challenge from NUPES, a new left-wing alliance led by former socialist Jean-Luc Melenchon. The rejuvenated left is struggling as rampant inflation raises the cost of living and sends shockwaves into the French political landscape.
In the first round of voting last Sunday, both sides were around 26 per cent. In the second round, the initial field of candidates in almost all 577 constituencies was reduced to two contestants facing each other.
Macron’s coalition hopes to win an absolute majority of 289 seats to carry out difficult reforms.
Opinion polls predict that Macron’s coalition of centrist and center-right Ensemble (Together) parties will get the most seats, but say there is no guarantee that it will reach the threshold of an absolute majority.
The far right is also likely to achieve its greatest parliamentary success in decades.
Jonah Hull of Al Jazeera, reporting from Paris, said the center-right and left-wing coalitions had “radically different ideas about what to do about France’s problems.”
The centrists aim to cut taxes, reform social benefits and raise the retirement age, while the left plans to tax the rich, raise the minimum wage and reduce the retirement age.
Failure to achieve an absolute majority will require a degree of power-sharing between the parties – unheard of in France for decades – or will lead to prolonged paralysis and repeat parliamentary elections.
If Macron and his allies miss an absolute majority by just a few seats, they could hunt down center-right or conservative MPs. If they miss it by a wide margin, they could either seek an alliance with the Conservatives or run a minority government that will have to negotiate laws on a case-by-case basis with other parties.
Hull said less than half of France’s electorate went to the polls in the first round, raising concerns about turnout. “Low turnout will not benefit incumbents,” he added.
Turnout by noon was 18.99 percent, higher than at the same time during Sunday’s first round of voting and higher than in 2017, when it reached just 18.43 percent and 17.75 percent, respectively.
Macron won a second term in April, defeating his far-right rival Marin Le Pen by a comfortable margin. After electing a president, French voters traditionally use legislative polls that follow a few weeks later to give their newly elected leader a convenient parliamentary majority.
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