President Emmanuel Macron has won a strong majority in France's parliamentary election, beating traditional parties and securing a powerful mandate for pro-business reforms.
The result transforms France's political landscape, humiliating the Socialist and conservative parties that alternated in power for decades until Macron's election in May this year.
Key pollsters projected that Macron's Republic on the Move (LREM) and its Modem allies would win 355 to 365 seats in the 577-seat lower house, fewer than previously forecast.
They predicted the conservative Republicans and their allies would form the largest opposition bloc with 125 to 131 seats, while the Socialist Party, in power for the past five years, and its partners would secure 41 to 49 seats, their lowest ever in the postwar Fifth Republic.
Official figures with 90 seats still left to be decided show LREM has already won its majority.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe described the outcome as an "opportunity for France", and said a year ago "no one would have imagined such a political renewal".
Voter turnout was projected to be a record low at about 42 per cent.
The low rate suggests that Macron will have to tread carefully with reforms in a country with strong trade unions, and a history of protests that have forced many past governments to dilute new legislation.
Newshub.
