Polls: Macron’s new party to secure majority in France

President Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche! party has emerged victorious in France’s parliamentary elections.

The Associated Press on Sunday reported that Macron’s party had 41 percent of the vote after 57 percent of the vote had been counted. France’s Republican party is in second place, while the Nationalist Front is in third place.

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The AP said pollsters project En Marche! and other allies of the center-left party have a majority in parliament. Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, won her first seat in the French parliament in the Sunday election.

The parliamentary elections come after Macron last month defeated Le Pen in the closely watched presidential election. Le Pen and Macron had emerged as the top two contenders after the first round of the presidential election in April. 

The presidential election was seen as a test of the populist sentiments pulsing through Europe and the United States in the wake of the United Kingdom’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union (EU) and President Trump’s November victory. Macron’s series of wins could be interpreted as a defeat for the nationalist movement, although polls also report low turnout in France overall.