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Spotlight: First-round victory of Macron's camp mirrors emerging confidence

(Xinhua)    17:13, June 12, 2017

FRANCE-PARIS-PRESIDENT-INAUGURATION

French president Emmanuel Macron waves during an inauguration ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris,France, on May 14, 2017. Centrist Emmanuel Macron was sworn in as the eighth president of the French Fifth Republic in a ceremony at the Elysee Palace here on Sunday. (Xinhua/Chen Yichen/File photo)

PARIS, June 12 -- 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" (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.

The results showed that the 39-year-old president, the ever 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 immediately 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.

On the diplomatic front, Macron did not lose to U.S. President Donald Trump when they postured to shake hands together at the NATO summit held in Brussels late May.

His invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit France made "a clear stream" in relations between Russia and Europe, and his firm stance against Trump's decision to quit the Paris Agreement won applauses from French media.

Speaking to Xinhua, 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 of the French Interior Ministry unveiled a record abstention rate in the country's parliamentary elections since 1958, at 51.4 percent, exposing the "democratic fatigue" in France.

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 2016, 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 French voters deep into "democratic fatigue".

Moreover, in the past decade, the presidents elected by French 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.

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)
(Web editor: Du Mingming, Bianji)

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