Sarkozy headed for big win in French poll

PARIS, June 17 (Reuters) France voted today in a parliamentary election that is expected to give an overwhelming majority to conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy for his programme of tax and labour reform.

Despite controversy in the past week over government proposals for a hike in VAT, Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party is likely to win a majority of 380-420 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, according to a survey by pollsters Ipsos.

The opposition Socialist Party may win between 153-195 seats, an improvement on the 149 seats it held in the outgoing parliament, with the smaller parties like the Communists and Greens likely to be squeezed to just a handful of seats.

The Socialists, still reeling from Sarkozy's triumph in the presidential election and with no hope of victory, have urged voters to turn out to limit the size of the conservative majority.

But with the result apparently clear, voter fatigue appears to have set in, with the abstention rate in the first round last week approaching 40 per cent.

By midday, some 22.9 per cent of voters had cast ballots, a similar percentage to that seen at the same time last week, when many voters appeared to have other things to do.

''Is the party of second-hand markets, fishing, nature and abstention going to become the biggest in France?'' asked regional daily Le Journal d'Alsace.

Voting has already ended in some of France's overseas departments but will continue in metropolitan France until 1800 GMT, when the first television projections will be released.

VAT ROW 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.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon has already outlined a package of measures, including tax breaks on mortgage interest repayments and overtime and a tightening of immigration laws.

The only cloud has been confusion over proposals to consider raising VAT by up to five percentage points as a means of lowering employers' social security contributions.

The left seized on the issue, which they denounced as an unfair tax that would stifle consumer demand and drag down the economy and Sarkozy himself was forced to intervene to play down the talk of a hike.

But the Socialists has had little to console themselves with otherwise and have struggled to contain infighting while the campaign is still going on.

No-one doubts that the party is in for blood-letting after its third straight defeat in a presidential election.

Defeated candidate Segolene Royal has been manoeuvring for a role as head of the opposition.

But she faces several powerful internal rivals and her position is complicated by her partner, party chairman Francois Hollande, whose authority has been severely weakened is expected to step down.

Sarkozy, who has played a low profile in the campaign, is expected to quickly complete his governing team after Sunday's vote.

Half a dozen or so junior ministers could include ethnic minority figures, non-UMP politicians and maintain a rough ministerial parity between the sexes.

REUTERS SW RAI1815