Macron heads for big victory

Merkel calls results of legislative election 'strong vote for reforms'

PARIS - President Emmanuel Macron's party and its ally took a big lead in the first round of French legislative election on Sunday, which refracted that the new and young French president is winning emerging confidence of voters, with his "not bad" performance.

Final results released by the Interior Ministry early Monday showed that Macron's party The Republic On The Move, or LREM, and its ally MoDem gained 32.32 percent of the vote in the election, while the center-right party The Republicans and the far-right National Front of Marine Le Pen garnered 21.56 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively.