Monday, June 11, 2007; Page A11
PARIS, June 10 -- French voters reinforced President Nicolas Sarkozy (Related) 's mandate for major reform of the nation's moribund economy and government, giving his ruling party and its allies an estimated 46 percent of the vote in Sunday's first round of parliamentary elections, according to nearly complete official returns.
The battered Socialists and other leftist parties appeared to claim about 36 percent of the vote for the National Assembly, making it difficult for them to derail Sarkozy's initial proposals to update labor laws, restructure the nation's universities and dilute the power of labor unions.
"This election confirms your will to set a new direction for France (Related) , to liberate the country from its inertia and skepticism," said Prime Minister François Fillon (Related) , addressing the nation. Fillon was elected to a seat in the assembly from the ruling Union for a Popular Movement party.
All 577 seats in the National Assembly, the French equivalent of the U.S. House of Representatives (Related) , were open. A few candidates, like Fillon, won more than 50 percent of the vote in their districts and were elected Sunday, but most will face runoffs in a second round of voting June 17.
Although a record number of blacks, Arabs, Muslims and members of other minorities ran for seats Sunday, few of them appeared to have made the runoffs, according to preliminary results. The National Assembly has no minority members from continental France; it has a few representing overseas territories.
"The news is unfortunately bad tonight -- the situation looks bad for minority candidates to be elected in the National Assembly in 2007," said Patrick Lozes, president of an umbrella organization representing black political groups. "The turnout was too low, and minority candidates were in places very hard to win. I blame it on the parties who still haven't understood how important it is for our citizens to be represented."
This was the first election in nearly three decades in which the same party retained control of Parliament, testimony both to Sarkozy's ability to sell voters on his vision and to the disarray among leftists, many of whom stayed away from the polls. After a near-record voter turnout of 84 percent in the presidential elections last month, Sunday's 61 percent turnout was one of the lowest in recent years.
Ségolène Royal, the Socialist Party candidate who lost to Sarkozy last month, appealed to party members to go to the polls for the runoffs, saying, "I know why many of you did not come out to vote: There has been a kind of fatalism. They are sad, disappointed."
She added, "The republic needs you, because the republic needs the great force of the left to watch over things."
Sarkozy has worked to convey an image of youth and vigor to a country weary of the aging, ineffective Jacques Chirac (Related) , whom he replaced, and is enjoying a honeymoon of laudatory news media coverage and strong public support. Two-thirds of French residents say they think Sarkozy, after 19 days in office, is doing a good job, according to public opinion surveys.
Sarkozy, who has been pictured in jogging shorts on the cover of almost every major French magazine, and who has raced across Europe (Related) meeting with counterparts since he took office, has said he will launch an ambitious legislative agenda at a special session of Parliament in July.
Although some of his proposals are likely to encounter resistance, even among allies, the weak showing of opposition parties significantly boosts his chances of legislative success.
François Bayrou, who created a centrist party after finishing third in the presidential elections, warned that such a lopsided assembly is dangerous for the country's system of political checks and balances.
"It's not healthy to have institutions that give a record number of seats to one side," he said.
With 99 percent of the ballots counted, the ruling party received nearly 40 percent of the votes and the Socialist Party almost 25 percent. The remaining votes were distributed among smaller parties.
The Communists appeared to have suffered their worst parliamentary defeat since World War II, winning 4 percent of the vote.
Researcher Corinne Gavard contributed to this report.
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