Jamsheed Rizwani

With 32.32 per cent…Next Sunday, the electors including the ones that who preferred to picnic instead of heading for the voting booths will probably confirm the domination of a new mastodonte in French politics – that of Emmanuel Macron.

Paris: The traditional right on one knee, all the left and green parties on both knees, the extreme right with small gains…..the first round of the French legislative elections 2017 has one winner the non-voter….with 48.71 per cent who chose to stay away with a close runner-up the formation of the new President Emmanuel Macron.

With 32.32 per cent…Next Sunday, the electors including the ones that who preferred to picnic instead of heading for the voting booths will probably confirm the domination of a new mastodonte in French politics that of Macron.

Macron’s formation with recruits from both the right and the left has to prove it’s capacity to govern without creating a strong opposition from the trade unions on the streets as Macron wants to reform the Labour code ‘code du travail’. But France could do without it and it remains to be seen if the General Macron’s ragtag army with a majority of first timer parliamentarians can last without splintering along traditional lines of right and left.

I am of the opinion that we still need our traditional parties with new faces and anchored on a firm anti-corruption base rather than a mix of diametrically opposed ideologies sharing the same roof in a government. I wish this government, if it gets a majority in next week’s run-off, success, but I shall remain vigilant.