Macron’s Coalition Surpasses Melenchon’s Union by Less Than 1% in First Round

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance, Ensemble (Together), barely came ahead of the rival New Popular Environmentalist and Social Union (Nupes) of Jean-Luc Melenchon in the first round of parliamentary elections in France, according to results released by the Interior Ministry.

With 100% of the ballots processed in the Sunday vote, the Interior Ministry said that Ensemble got 25.7%, while Nupes got 25.6%. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party finished third with over 18%.

The turnout in the first round of the French parliamentary elections was 39.42% as of 5 p.m. local time on Sunday (15:00 GMT), lower than the figures recorded at this time in four previous parliamentary elections.

Ensemble had been polling at 24.54% after 64% of ballots cast in the first tour were counted, according to figures published by the Interior Ministry. Nupes had come second with 22.28%.

Marine Le Pen’s hard-right National Rally was third with 21.48%, while the conservative Republicans lagged behind with 11.04% at the time.

Nearly 6,300 candidates are vying for 577 seats in the lower-house National Assembly. The voting takes place over two consecutive Sundays. The turnout was 39.42% as of 5 p.m., lower than the figures recorded at this time in four previous parliamentary elections.

Earlier, it was reported Melenchon's New Popular Environmentalist and Social Union (Nupes) had taken the lead in the first round of French legislative elections with 26.2% of the vote.

The voting has been marred by the lowest turnout in a decade.