Voting in some French overseas territories began today in the first round of parliamentary elections which are expected to lead to a large majority for right-wing President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Voting started first in the two tiny islands of St Pierre and Miquelon, off the eastern coast of Canada, a day before polls open in mainland France at 8am.
About 1 million French nationals living in overseas territories, and in the Americas and French Polynesia, are eligible to cast their ballots a day early.
Mr Sarkozy's UMP party is expected to retain its majority in the 577 seat National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, after the second round of the election on June 17th.
He easily beat the Socialist Segolene Royal in the May 6th presidential election and media say his party will ride a "blue wave" of conservative support to defeat rivals for the parliamentary seats, clearing the way for his planned reforms.
A BVA poll last week gave the UMP 42 percent support against 28 per cent for the Socialists, who have been in a state of disarray since Royal's presidential defeat.
That would give the UMP 366-419 deputies, a larger majority than the 359 seats they currently hold, against 120-173 for the Socialists, who have 149 seats in parliament. Smaller groups like the Communists or Greens are expected to win just a handful of seats.
Eleven members of Mr Sarkozy's newly-appointed government are running for parliament. They are all expected to win but Prime Minister Francois Fillon has warned them that they will have to leave the government if they lose. Candidates can win a seat in the first round if they get over half of the votes cast by at least a quarter of registered voters.
If no candidate meets these criteria a second round will be held on June 17th. There are around 44.5 million registered voters in France who are called on to elect a new National Assembly every five years, unless it is dissolved earlier.
Source : www.ireland.com
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