A second and final round of parliamentary elections began in France on Sunday, with President Emmanuel Macron aiming to resecure an absolute majority for members of his centrist La Republique en Marche (The Republic on the Move, LREM) party.

The poll will determine whether Macron can enact his political agenda with relative ease in his second term, or whether he will need to engage more with the forces on the left.

A coalition of left-wing, socialist, communist and Green parties, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, is threatening to make inroads into Macron's majority. After the first round, it was far from certain that the ballot would end in an absolute majority for the president's camp.

Macron, who has recently been reelected president, warned of political chaos if LREM achieved only a relative majority.

If that does happen, LREM lawmakers would be forced to seek backing from other groups for any initiatives, which could dilute Macron's plans.

At stake in the polls are the 577 seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

Turnout will be key. In the first round of voting, which eliminated all but the top two candidates for each seat, only 47.5% of the country's 48.9 million voters bothered to cast a ballot, a record low.

Voting began in some of France's overseas territories on Saturday.