Voters in France will head to the polls Sunday for the country's first round of parliamentary elections, ahead of a second round a week later.

This comes after Emmanuel Macron won a second five-year term as president of France in April, reports Euronews, reports Telegrafi.

But the center-right pro-European must win a majority in parliament to have the best chance of pushing his policies.

This ambition however remains in balance.

Polls show that his central coalition, the Ensemble, is just ahead of its main left-wing rival, the NUPES (Ecological and Social Union of the Young People) bloc, led by left-wing veteran Jean-Luc Melenchon.

According to the Ipsos / Cevipof poll, President Macron's coalition is expected to win between 275 and 315 seats in the French parliament, while an absolute majority requires 289 seats.

Macron will hope not to become the first president since 2002 to face "coexistence" - a situation in which the prime minister is not on the same political side and the president does not have a majority in the assembly.

How does the process work?

In these elections 577 deputies are elected in the National Assembly for a five-year term.

In the first round of voting on Sunday, June 12, a candidate must receive more than 50 percent of the vote to be elected.

If no one reaches this threshold, they go to a second round of voting (Sunday, June 19).

Those who have won more than 12.5 percent of the votes in the first round will go to the second round.

The one who gets the most votes is chosen the winner.

On June 12, 6,293 candidates will be running - which averages about 11 candidates for one constituency.

Of these, 55.8 percent are male (or 3,514 candidates), and 44.2 percent are female (2,779 candidates).

What does the lineup look like?

Macron's party and its allies are competing together, a centrist coalition called the Ensemble.

This coalition consists of three main parties - La Republique En Marche (Macron's party), Mouvement Democrate and Horizons - along with four smaller parties.

Macron enjoyed a majority in parliament during his first term as president, but this time he and the Ensemble will have to fight to keep it.

Melenchon's party, La France Insoumise, on the other hand, is in a coalition with the Socialists, Greens and Communists in a sudden show of unity on the left.

His NUPES alliance is second in the polls and did well in early voting among overseas voters.

But NUPES is a fragile coalition with differences on several key issues, such as the use of nuclear energy and relations with NATO and the EU.

Les Republicains are aiming to be the third largest parliamentary group.

Although the Conservatives are projected to be far behind Macron's coalition and the other coalition, they could become "royalty" if the Ensemble has the largest group but not an absolute majority.

Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National is third in terms of first-round votes, but fourth in terms of seats.

Who can vote in the French elections?

To vote, the person must be of French citizenship, be 18 years of age or older, be registered on the electoral roll (according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, 48.7 million voters are registered).

/ Telegraphy /