German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated French President Emmanuel Macron on winning a "clear parliamentary majority" in elections Sunday, her spokesman said.
Merkel has repeatedly stressed that it was crucial not only for France, but for Germany, to help Macron succeed.
Macron's year-old Republic on the Move (REM) and their allies were set to win between 355 and 425 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, according to partial results after the second round of an election in which many high-profile figures were thrown out.
The result, if confirmed, would give 39-year-old Macron one of France's biggest post-war majorities, strengthening his hand in implementing his business-friendly, pro-EU programme.
But turnout was estimated to be extremely low, at around 44 per cent, giving his critics grounds to claim he has no groundswell of support.
The assembly is set to be transformed with a new generation of lawmakers -- younger, more ethnically diverse and with far more women than the outgoing parliament.
The scale of the change is forecast to be so large that some observers have compared the overhaul to 1958, the start of the present presidential system, or even the post-war rebirth of French democracy in 1945.
Desire for change
Just months ago, Macron was given little chance of becoming president, never mind dominating parliament, but he and the movement he founded 16 months ago have tapped into widespread desire for wholesale change.
His party dominated France's traditional parties, the rightwing Republicans and Socialists, but also the far-right National Front (FN) of defeated presidential candidate Marine Le Pen which fell far short of its target.
The Socialists were the biggest losers of the night, punished by association with years of high unemployment, social unrest and lost national confidence.
The party lost around 200 seats after five years in power under former president Francois Hollande, leaving them with only around 27 to 49 seats.
The Republicans hung on to between 97 and 130 seats, down from over 200 in the last parliament, and remain the main opposition party.
But despite the zest for political renewal, the vote failed to generate much excitement.
Official statistics showed turnout at a near 60-year low, revealing a high degree of election fatigue after four votes in under two months.
"People are tired of always seeing the same faces," said Natacha Dumay, a 59-year-old teacher voting in the northeastern Paris suburb of Pantin where Socialist former justice minister Elisabeth Guigou was voted out a week ago.
"Even if we don't know the new faces it's not important. We're not voting for individuals but for a programme," Dumay added.
Virtual unknowns
Turnout will be closely watched after it hit a near 60-year low in the June 11 first round of voting, leading some to warn Macron that his mandate is not as strong as he thinks.
REM won 32 percent of the votes cast in the first round, but this represented only about 15 percent of registered voters.
"Go and vote!" Prime Minister Edouard Philippe urged on Thursday, calling it both "a right and a responsibility".
Around half of REM's candidates are virtual unknowns drawn from diverse fields of academia, business or local activism. They include a mathematician, a female bullfighter and a former Rwandan orphan.
The other half are a mix of centrists and moderate left- and right-wing politicians drawn from established parties including ally MoDem.
Le Pen wins seat
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen won a seat in the French parliament, but her anti-EU National Front (FN) party faced disappointment, winning only four to eight seats, polls and party figures said.
The number of lawmakers, if confirmed, would be too small to form a parliamentary group which would give the FN a role in setting the agenda and win positions on committees.
Le Pen, 48, who lost her presidential bid to centrist Emmanuel Macron, triumphed in her northern fiefdom of Henin-Beaumont, a depressed former mining town, the town's FN mayor Steeve Briois said.
Le Pen's partner and vice-president of the party Louis Aliot told AFP he had been elected from his constituency in southwest France.
The overall results will be a huge disappointment for the nationalist and anti-EU party which had once hoped to emerge as the main opposition in parliament to Macron's centrist party.
There was also disappointment for senior FN figure Florian Philippot, the architect of the FN's policies to scrap the euro common currency, who lost in the former industrial area of Moselle in eastern France.
The hard-left France Unbowed is also struggling to maintain the momentum it had during the presidential election.
Jean-Luc Melenchon, the firebrand leader of the movement, is running for election in the southern city of Marseille on a promise to lead resistance to Macron's radical labour market reforms.
Apart from loosening labour laws to try to boost employment, Macron also plans measures to deepen European integration and an overhaul of the social security system.
He has vowed to take on French unions by creating a system of "flexi-security" inspired by Scandinavian countries which combines a solid state-funded safety net with company-friendly legislation.
His confident start at home, where he has concentrated on trying to restore the lost prestige of the president, and his decisive action on the international stage has led to a host of positive headlines.
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