French voters go to the polls in first round of parliamentary elections

France is voting in the first round of a parliamentary election which needs to give a majority to Socialist President François Hollande for him to implement his tax-and-spend programme. 

Reuters/Jean-Paul Pelissier

Hollande defeated right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy in last month's presidential election and wants voters to turn out en masse to give him the mandate to enact reforms as the country struggles through a financial crisis, rising unemployment and a stagnant economy.

The vote will also be a litmus test for Marine Le Pen's anti-immigrant Front National after she won 18 per cent of votes in the first round of the May presidential election.

More than 6,500 candidates will be competing to fill the 577 seats in the National Assembly - 40 per cent of these are woman. There are also 11 new seats to represent French voters who live abroad.

The left already holds a majority in the upper house Senate, which is indirectly elected.

Voting takes place under a constituency-based simple majority system, but in two rounds. If no candidate wins more than 50 per cent in the first round, any contender with more than 12.5 per cent of the vote is allowed to stay in the race for the second round.

Some 64,000 polling stations opened at 6am on Sunday and were to close at 6pm in most municipalities and as late as 8pm in large cities.