French parliament voter turnout falls sharply in second round

Voter turnout in the second round of France's parliamentary election is sharply down on the last vote five years ago, official statistics show.

By midday on Sunday only 17.75% of voters had cast a ballot, down from 21.41% at the same time in the 2012 election.

The second-round vote is a run-off between the top candidates from last Sunday's first round.

President Emmanuel Macron is hoping to obtain a strong parliamentary mandate to help him pursue his reform plans, and his La République en Marche (LREM) with its MoDem allies is expected to win most seats.

Macron formed his party just over a year ago, and half of its candidates have little or no political experience. They include a retired bullfighter, a Rwandan refugee and a mathematician.

Traditional parties are urging voters to back Macron's rivals to stop a monopolisation of power.

A party needs 289 seats to control the 577-seat National Assembly, and Macron’s LREM is predicted to win more than 400.

In the first round, LREM and MoDem won a combined 32.3% of the vote.

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%.

The Socialists, previously France's ruling party, and their allies won just 9.5%.

However, the turnout was low, despite claims that President Macron had re-energised the voting public. French analysts said it reflected a sense of resignation among his opponents.