France France is voting today in the final round of parliamentary elections

In France polling stations opened at 9 a.m. Finnish time on Sunday morning. This is the last round of parliamentary elections in which the French president Emmanuel Macronin the center-right electoral alliance is expected to get the most seats in the country’s parliament.

The news agencies Reuters and AFP, among others, report the matter.

However, according to AFP forecasts, the Macron electoral alliance is not gaining an absolute majority, even if it becomes the largest party. The party would need 289 seats in the French National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, to get an absolute majority.

Last In the first round of elections on Sunday, the Macron electoral alliance received 25.75% of the vote and the Left Jean-Luc Mélenchonin led by the Left Party and the Greens, the Nupes Alliance of 25.66 per cent.

The turnout in the first round was at a record low of 47.51. Interest in parliamentary elections has waned for twenty years. According to three different opinion polls, the turnout this Sunday would be between 44% and 47%.

Read more: The Macron electoral alliance won the first round of the parliamentary elections with extreme precision

“The situation is still really open and it would be inappropriate to say that the situation would rise in half or the other,” Mélenchon said on Friday.

Struggle between electoral alliances has become even more bitter within a week. For example, an MP Christophe Castaner has accused Mélenchon of wanting a “Soviet revolution” in France, according to AFP. In addition, the French Minister of Finance Bruno Le Maire has called Mélenchon “French Chávez” with reference to the former president of Venezuela Hugo Cháveziin.

Macron, for his part, traveled to Ukraine last week to remind Mélenchon of anti-NATO and anti-EU positions. Mélenchon has vowed to raise the minimum wage, increase public spending and nationalize, among other things.

Nupes hopes that the second round of elections will come as a surprise so that it can, in its own words, block the Macron administration ‘s agenda. Macron has said it wants to raise the retirement age, reform social security and cut taxes, among other things. In the French model, the President has to work closely with Parliament and the Prime Minister.

However, the Prime Minister must enjoy the confidence of Parliament, which means that historically the Prime Minister will come from the largest party in Parliament. This could lead to a situation where Macron is effectively obliged to appoint his political opponent Mélencho as prime minister if Nupes gets the most seats in parliament.

The far right Marine Le Pen is also hopeful that his National Alliance party will win the election. If a party that now has eight seats in parliament gets more than 15 seats, it could formally form a parliamentary group.