Polls open in French election run-off

Paris, June 17: Voting started in the decisive round of France's parliamentary election today, with President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservatives expected to win a large majority to push through his economic reforms.

Sarkozy was elected last month on a pledge of tax cuts, growth and full employment, and needs to retain control of the National Assembly to implement the changes.

An eve of poll survey by Ipsos/Dell projected that Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and its centre-right allies would take 380-420 seats, compared with 153-195 for the Socialists and their associates.

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

Turnout could determine the final result. 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 the left would lose.

About 1 million citizens in France's overseas territories and French residents in the Americas voted yesterday. Voting began in mainland France at 8 00 a m (1130 IST) today and was due to end at 8 00 p m (2330 IST), when the first television projections will be known.

In a first round of balloting last week 110 deputies were elected outright, and around 37 million voters were being called today to elect the remaining 467 members of the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

It is elected every five years, unless it is dissolved earlier.

Reuters

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