Emmanuel Macron plans cabinet reshuffle after parliamentary sweep

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, will announce a new cabinet within days after his centrist party redrew France's political map with a resounding victory in parliamentary elections, dealing him a strong hand to forge ahead with pro-EU, business-friendly reforms.

Macron’s La République En Marche (La REM) party, although falling short of a predicted landslide, won 350 of the 577 lower house seats in Sunday’s election with its centre-right ally, MoDem. REM by itself, with 308 seats, has well over the 289 needed for an absolute majority.

The election was closely watched in Europe and around the world to see if Macron would secure a mandate to push through his pro-EU reform agenda.

The new parliament, which holds its first session next week, will look very different: 75% of its MPs have not previously occupied a seat in the assembly, their average age has fallen seven years to 48, and a record number – 223, or 38.7% – are women.

The prime minister, Édouard Philippe, resigned on Monday as required after a parliamentary poll. Macron immediately reappointed the rightwinger and asked him to unveil a new government lineup by 6:00pm on Wednesday, sources in the president's office said.

Macron, France's youngest-ever president at 39, asked close ally Richard Ferrand, who is embroiled in a conflict of interest scandal, to leave his cabinet and seek the leadership of the ruling Republic on the Move (REM) party in parliament.

Ferrand, under preliminary investigation over alleged favouritism towards his common-law wife in a lucrative property deal, agreed to step down as territorial cohesion minister, his entourage said. He denies any wrongdoing.

Christophe Castaner, a government spokesman, said the reshuffle would be “technical and not far-reaching”, adding that the record-high abstention rate in the election – only 43% of voters turned out for Sunday’s second round – highlighted the need for political change.

The turnout represented “a collective failure” for France’s political class, he said. While the government had “a clear majority that we hope will prove effective”, he added, “the real victory will be in five years’ time when we have really changed things”.