Macron faces tough battle for control of parliament as France votes

• Voting began at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) Sunday, with preliminary results anticipated at 8pm (1800 GMT).
• President Emmanuel Macron’s team will need 289 seats to avoid having to share power.

PARIS – France will vote in a high-stakes legislative election today (Sunday), which might rob centrist President Emmanuel Macron of the absolute majority he needs to govern without restraint.

In an election that might change the face of French politics, voting began at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT), with preliminary results anticipated at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT).

According to pollsters, Macron’s team will win the most seats, but it is far from certain that it will achieve the 289-seat barrier required for an absolute majority.

According to polls, the far right is on track to achieve its biggest parliamentary victory in decades, while a wide left-green combination might emerge as the main opposition force and the conservatives as kingmakers.

If Macron’s team fails to win an overall majority, a period of uncertainty would ensue, which might be resolved by a degree of power-sharing among parties previously unheard of in France – or result in protracted stalemate and future legislative elections.

Macron was re-elected in April, promising to raise the retirement age, promote his pro-business agenda, and further European Union integration.

With the exception of Francois Mitterand in 1988, French voters have always used legislative polls a few weeks after electing a president to give him a solid parliamentary majority.

Macron and his friends may still be able to do this.

But the rejuvenated left is putting up a tough challenge, as rampant inflation

If Macron and his partners fall short of an absolute majority by a few seats, officials from the center-right and conservative parties say they may be tempted to poach MPs.

If they lose by a larger margin, they may form an alliance with the conservatives or form a minority administration that will have to negotiate bills with other parties on a case-by-case basis.

Even if Macron’s party wins the 289 seats or more needed to avoid sharing power, it will almost certainly be thanks to his former prime minister, Edouard Philippe, who will want more input in the government’s decisions.

So, after five years of absolute authority, Macron, who is known for his top-down approach to governing, faces a fresh mandate that will require him to make more compromises.

No poll has shown the Nupes, led by hard left Jean-Luc Melenchon, gaining a majority in the government, a situation that may plunge the euro zone’s second-largest economy into an unstable period of cohabitation between president and prime minister from opposing political parties.