French President Nicolas Sarkozy looked set to gain a resounding new mandate for his program of reforms yesterday, after the opening round of legislative elections delivered a large majority for his right-wing political party.
One month after his election victory over the Socialist Segolene Royal, Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) won 45.5 percent support in the first of two rounds of voting for the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament. The opposition Socialist Party (PS) obtained 39 percent.
If the trend continues in next Sunday's second round of voting, the UMP and its allies can expect to win an overwhelming majority of between 383 and 501 seats in the 577-member assembly, with the PS controlling between 60 and 185.
The UMP currently has 359 seats, compared to the Socialists' 149.
Participation in Sunday's vote was a record low at 60.5 percent, indicating the widespread feeling that last month's presidential election was the more important democratic moment.
The UMP and the PS urged voters to turn out in greater numbers next Sunday, to boost or to check the momentum behind Sarkozy's ambitious reform program.
In the French system, a second round of voting is required in constituencies -- in practice most of them -- where no candidate reaches 50 percent of the registered vote in round one.
Only those who win 12.5 percent or more in round one qualify for the run-off.
Sarkozy has promised to convene a special session of the National Assembly next month, in order to push through a first raft of laws including tougher sentencing rules, restrictions on immigration and greater autonomy for universities.
His prime minister Francois Fillon has also prepared a tax and finance bill whose aim is to "provoke a shock to spur confidence and growth."
The main provisions are to exempt overtime work from taxation, make mortgage interest payments tax deductible, eliminate inheritance tax for all but the wealthiest and put a 50 percent cap on overall individual taxation.
French newspaper commentators of all stripes acknowledged the scale of Sarkozy's new victory, describing the UMP gains as a "blue wave," a "tidal wave," or a "flood."
In a leading article entitled "A new France takes shape," the rightist newspaper Le Figaro said that the French have shown that "they want change and they want it fast."
For the popular daily Le Parisien, the low turnout was a sign that "voters -- of left as well as right -- believe that the real decision was made when Nicolas Sarkozy won his presidential victory."
But several commentators warned that a crushing majority for the UMP could be bad for democracy, with Sarkozy unchecked by any serious opposition.
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