Overseas voting starts in French parliament race

PARIS, June 16 (Reuters) Voting got under way today in some overseas French territories in the decisive round of parliamentary elections which are expected to hand President Nicolas Sarkozy a huge majority for his reform plans.

Voting started first in the two tiny islands of St Pierre and Miquelon, off the eastern coast of Canada, a day before polling begins in mainland France at 8.00 a m (1130 ist).

About 1 million voters living in overseas territories, the Americas and French Polynesia, are eligible to cast their ballots a day early.

''The size of the right's victory is the only unknown of the second round,'' wrote the conservative newspaper Le Figaro, saying Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) was aiming to clear the 400-seat barrier. It had 359 seats in the outgoing parliament.

The left-wing daily Liberation predicted a blue tidal wave would sweep the 557-member National Assembly after Sunday's run-off ballots, unless the left made an unexpected come back.

An Ipsos/Dell poll released today estimated the UMP and its centre-right associates would take 380-420 seats, compared to 153-195 for the Socialists and their allies.

The Democratic Movement of centrist Francois Bayrou, who came a strong third in the April/May presidential elections, was expected to gain two to three seats, the Communists up to 16 and the Greens between two and four.

Just over 100 deputies were elected in the first round on June 10 after securing more than 50 per cent of the vote. In the second round ballot, the candidate with the most votes wins.

Around 37 million registered voters are called on to elect the 467 seats still up for grabs in the National Assembly, which is elected every five years unless dissolved earlier.

Abstention was a record 39 per cent a week ago, against just 16 per cent in the presidential election, reflecting voter fatigue after months of electioneering and a widespread feeling that the centre-right was certain to win.

REUTERS HK KP1616