Paris — French voters went back to the polls on Sunday for the first round of parliamentary elections that are tipped to give President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party a commanding majority. Polling stations opened across France at 6am GMT and voting will continue in the largest cities until 6pm GMT with exit polls released immediately afterwards. Macron has enjoyed a smooth start in the five weeks since he beat far-right candidate Marine Le Pen to become France’s youngest-ever president, naming a cabinet that crosses left-right lines and making a big impression at international summits. His untested Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move, REM) party, which he only founded in April 2016, now needs a clear majority in the National Assembly for him to push through the reforms he has promised. A host of opinion polls show Macron’s party taking around 30% of the vote on Sunday, putting it in pole position to secure a landslide in the second round next Sunday. Some predictions show ...
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