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PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy's allies won a large majority in parliamentary elections today but fell short of the predicted landslide after a row over a sales tax hike appeared to cost them votes.
When voting ended, pollster Ipsos-Dell projected Sarkozy's centre-right allies would win about 340 seats in the National Assembly, well below some pre-vote estimates that up to 470 of their candidates could be elected.
It also projected that the Socialist bloc would number 232 in the 577-seat legislature.
The surprise results were a relative setback for Sarkozy but the new president will still have the legislative muscle to push ahead with his sweeping tax and labour reforms.
"Your participation has resulted in a clear and coherent choice, which will allow the President of the Republic to implement his project," Prime Minister Francois Fillon, speaking from his official Matignon residence, said of the results.
"My dear compatriots, the time of elections are over, the time to unite has arrived, the time for action has begun."
Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and allies had 359 seats in the outgoing legislature, compared to 149 for the Socialists and their affiliates.
Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande said voters had made it a strong counterweight to the right in parliament.
"They also wanted to express doubts and fears concerning the first unfair measures of the government of Francois Fillon, notably the announcement of the 'Social VAT'," Hollande said of the value-added tax.
The run-off ballots confirmed the implosion of the independent centre, which was projected to win 5 seats. The Communists were seeking to save 18 of their 21 seats, and the Greens were seen increasing their number to four.
The far-right National Front failed to win a seat.
Sarkozy, who played a low profile role in the campaign, was expected to complete his governing team quickly after the vote, the fourth election in France in two months. Voter fatigue explained a high abstention rate of around 40 per cent.
Sarkozy could this week appoint about half a dozen junior ministers, including ethnic minority figures, non-UMP politicians and maintain ministerial parity between the sexes.
Sarkozy's first weeks in office have been marked by a burst of activity and the announcement of a series of domestic reforms and high-profile foreign appearances such as his attendance at the G8 summit in Germany.
He will call a special session of the new parliament for June 26 to vote through tax breaks on mortgage interest repayments and overtime, a 50 per cent ceiling on personal taxation, tighter immigration laws and tougher sentences for repeat offenders.
But it was the government's bungled proposal to consider raising VAT by up to 5 percentage points as a means of lowering employers' social security contributions that seemed to have cost the conservatives a bigger majority.
The left seized the issue, which they denounced as an unfair tax that would stifle consumer demand and drag down the economy. Sarkozy was forced to intervene to play down talk of a hike.
Despite their relative success, the Socialists are expected to engage in a bout of blood-letting in the wake of the defeat, the first time since 1978 that an outgoing majority has been returned to office.
Segolene Royal, the Socialists' defeated presidential candidate, has been manoeuvring to take over from her partner Hollande, whose authority has been severely weakened.
- REUTERS
