The French voted Sunday 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 the 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 Greek elections, which could determine whether Greece stays in the eurozone amid concern over the global economic shock that would result if it were forced to abandon the currency. Hollande will leave Monday for G20 talks in Mexico — the first of a series of summits with world and 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 Sunday’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.
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.
With the French voting for the fourth time in eight weeks, there was concern turnout would be less than enthusiastic, after a record low of 57 percent took part in last Sunday’s first round.
Voter participation was up slightly to 21.41 percent as of 1000 GMT, from 21.06 percent at the same time in the first round, the interior ministry said.
Already in control of the Senate and nearly all regional governments, a parliamentary majority would give the Socialists a free hand to implement reforms, and the right has urged voters to check the left’s power in the vote.
