French President Emmanuel Macron's coalition finished neck and neck with the new left-green alliance led by Jean-Luc Melenchon in Sunday's first round of legislative elections, leaving the president at risk of losing his outright majority.

According to the French Ministry of Interior, Macron's Ensemble (Together) received 25.75 percent of the votes, while his main opponent, the leftwing NUPES bloc, won 25.66 percent. Macron needs to win 289 seats in next week's second round to keep his majority.

Voter turnout was a historically low 47.5 percent.

With rampant inflation driving up the costs of living and eroding wages, Macron has struggled to build on his re-election in April, with Melenchon casting him as a free-marketeer more intent on protecting the wealthy than hard-up families.

"In view of this result, and the extraordinary opportunity it offers us and the destiny of the common homeland, I call on people next Sunday to defeat the disastrous politics of the majority, of Macron," Melenchon said after the vote.

With the two-round system, which is applied to 577 constituencies across the country, the popular vote in the first round is a poor indicator of who will eventually win a majority the following week.

At stake is Macron's ability to pass his reform agenda, including a contested pension reform that would see the French work longer, which he says is necessary to ensure long-term order to the public finances.

His opponents on the left are pushing to cut the pension age and launch a big spending drive. Melenchon's bloc has capitalized on anger over surging living costs and Macron's perceived weakness at connecting with ordinary people.

(With input from Reuters)

(Cover: A man casts his ballot to vote in the first round of French parliamentary elections at a polling station in Noues-de-Sienne, France, June 12, 2022. /Reuters)