{"id":329265,"date":"2017-06-18T15:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-06-18T15:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=329265"},"modified":"2017-06-18T15:00:33","modified_gmt":"2017-06-18T15:00:33","slug":"french-voter-turnout-falls-sharply-in-second-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/06\/french-voter-turnout-falls-sharply-in-second-round\/","title":{"rendered":"French voter turnout falls sharply in second round"},"content":{"rendered":"
Voter turnout in the second round of France’s parliamentary election is sharply down on the last vote five years ago, official statistics show.<\/p>\n
By midday on Sunday only 17.75% had cast a ballot, down from 21.41% at the same time in the 2012 election.<\/p>\n
The second-round vote is a run-off between the top candidates from last Sunday’s first round.<\/p>\n
President Emmanuel Macron is hoping to obtain a strong mandate in parliament to help him pursue his reform plans.<\/p>\n
His La R\u00e9publique en Marche (Republic on the Move or LREM) with its MoDem allies is expected to win most seats.<\/p>\n
Traditional parties are urging voters to back Mr Macron’s rivals to stop a monopolisation of power.<\/p>\n
President Macron formed his party just over a year ago, and half of its candidates have little or no political experience.<\/p>\n
They include a retired bullfighter, a Rwandan refugee and a mathematician.<\/p>\n
A party needs 289 seats to control the 577-seat National Assembly. LREM is predicted to win more than 400.<\/p>\n
What happened in part one?<\/strong><\/p>\n In the first round Mr Macron’s LREM and MoDem won 32.3% of the vote.<\/p>\n The centre-right Republicans had 21.5%, while the far-right National Front (FN) had 13.2%, followed by the far-left La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) on just over 11%.<\/p>\n The Socialists, previously France’s ruling party, and their allies won just 9.5%.<\/p>\n However, the turnout was low, despite claims that President Macron had re-energised the voting public.<\/p>\n Analysts said it reflected a sense of resignation among his opponents.<\/p>\n