Macron enjoys landslide victory in parliamentary election

France’s newly elected President Emmanuel Macron saw a landslide victory in the first round of parliamentary elections, handing him a stronger position than any French president for a generation.

Macron's recently formed Republique en Marche! (Republic on the Move) party, along with its ally MoDem, garnered 32.32% of the vote on Sunday, with the two parties tipped to win between 400 and 445 seats in the 577-member National Assembly in the second round of voting next Sunday.

Such a share would give Macron, 39, one of the biggest parliamentary majorities in 60 years and a strong position to enact his pro-business agenda.

The right-wing Republicans took second place with a predicted 70 to 130 seats, while Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front is forecast to win between one and 10 seats.

Yet the biggest blow goes to the Socialist party, predicted to lose 200 seats, retaining only around 20 and 35 seats of the 331 they won in 2012.

If no candidate wins more than 50% in a district, the two top-placed contenders go into the second round - along with any other candidate who garners at least 12.5% of votes.

The vote, however, was also marked by record low turnout of 49%.