France turns left again

OPINION POLLS SHOW SOCIALISTS AND PARLIAMENTARY ALLIES ON TRACK TO TAKE CONTROL AFTER RUN-OFF

The French yesterday voted in an election run-off expected to cement the country’s swing to the left by handing Socialist President Francois Hollande a solid parliamentary majority to push his agenda.

Opinion polls released before the end of campaigning at midnight Friday showed Hollande’s Socialists and their parliamentary allies on track to take control of France’s lower house National Assembly.

Hollande, who defeated right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy in May’s presidential election, has urged voters to give him the majority he needs to steer France through Europe’s debt crisis, rising unemployment and a faltering economy.

The French vote risks being overshadowed however by Sunday’s elections in Greece, which could determine whether Athens stays in the Eurozone amid concern over the global economic shock that would result if it were forced to abandon the currency.

Fresh fromthe vote, Hollande will leave today for G20 talks in Mexico — the first of a series of summits with fellow European leaders where he will seek to shift the focus of Eurozone economic policy from austerity to growth.

The polls showed France’s Socialists winning between 287 and 330 seats in yesterday’s run-off vote — almost certainly enough to secure a majority in the 577-seat Assembly.

With the Greens, who are close allies of the Socialists and already in government, expected to win up to 20 seats, Hollande is all, but guaranteed to get the parliamentary backing he needs.

Reforms

Casting their ballots under sunny skies in a working-class area of northeastern Paris, voters said they were backing the Socialists so Hollande could push forward with reforms.

“I voted for the Socialist Party. It has been a long time since they were in power and they must be supported now,” said William Lameth, a 39-year-old waiter. “We need reforms in this country and with a majority Hollande will be able to do what needs to be done,” he said.

A parliamentary majority would give the Socialists a free hand to implement reforms.

No right choice Marine Le Pen, President of French far-right party Front National and candidate for the French parliamentary elections in the 11th constituency of Pas-de-Calais department, poses with a girl after voting in yesterday’s second round.