Merkel calls results of legislative election 'strong vote for reforms'

PARIS - President Emmanuel Macron's party and its ally took a big lead in the first round of French legislative election on Sunday, which refracted that the new and young French president is winning emerging confidence of voters, with his "not bad" performance.

Final results released by the Interior Ministry early Monday showed that Macron's party The Republic On The Move, or LREM, and its ally MoDem gained 32.32 percent of the vote in the election, while the center-right party The Republicans and the far-right National Front of Marine Le Pen garnered 21.56 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated Macron on the victory of his party, calling the result a strong vote for reforms.

"Chancellor Merkel: My heartfelt congratulations to @EmmanuelMacron to the great success of his party in the first election round. Strong vote for reforms," read the message on a government Twitter account on Monday.

The results showed that the 39-year-old president, the youngest since the establishment of the Fifth Republic of France in 1958, has not missed his opportunities and been doing well after taking office on May 14 against the backdrop of the complicated and changing politics in the country.

After being sworn in, Macron started up his "New Deal" at home, from reform on labor law to the establishment of anti-terrorism center, and the enactment of new anti-corruption rules, all of which caught the hearts of French people and impressed them with pragmatic reforms.

Madani Cheurfa, secretary-general of the Center of Political Research of Sciences Po, said Macron's nearly perfect performance since taking office significantly backed his camp's strong performance in the first round of the legislative election.

On Sunday, French voters were electing 577 lawmakers, out of more than 7,800 candidates, to the country's National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

However, the preliminary statistics unveiled a record abstention rate in the country's parliamentary elections since 1958, at 51.4 percent.

The lower turnout was mainly attributed to two major reasons - too intensive election arrangements, and the public's doubt over the French-style democracy and its effectiveness.

Since July, French voters saw major election activities in the country in less than one year, such as preliminary elections of candidates by various political parties, followed by two rounds of nationwide general presidential elections.

Various electoral activities, rallies, slogans sank voters deep into "democratic fatigue".

Dilemma

Moreover, in the past decade, the presidents elected by voters failed to bail the country out of social, economic and development dilemma. Many voters lost their interest in the democratic elections.

For those sakes, many of them simply did not showed up on Sunday at the polling stations to cast their votes.

Looking ahead, winning of Macron's party in the parliament undoubtedly will ensure the efficiency and fast pushing ahead of Macron's reform if his party and its ally can finally secure it.

A second and final round of France's parliament election is scheduled for June 18. If the projections of 400 to 440 seats for Macron's camp are confirmed, Macron will have a strong mandate to implement his campaign promises of boosting economy and reducing deficit.

Xinhua - Reuters