Hollande set to win Assembly majority

François Hollande is on track to win an all-important parliamentary majority following the first round of National Assembly elections on Sunday, entrenching the authority of France’s new Socialist president a month after he was elected.

If confirmed in the decisive second round next Sunday, Mr Hollande will have a free hand to implement his plans to boost growth – and to reveal his as-yet unspecified plan to meet tough commitments on reducing France’s budget deficit.

He has a 60-point programme aimed at boosting industrial investment, increasing youth employment and teacher numbers, raising taxes and partially reversing former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s pension reforms.

Socialist party leaders welcomed the marked swing to the left in the first round vote, but expressed caution about the final outcome given a historically low turnout of 57 per cent.

“Everything is still to play for next Sunday,” said Jean-Marc Ayrault, the prime minister. “The change has begun [but] I appeal to the French people to give a large, solid and coherent majority to the president on June 17.”

Mr Hollande’s Socialist party and its closest allies won more than 35 per cent of the first-round vote, a shade ahead of the centre-right led by the UMP of Mr Sarkozy, who was defeated by Mr Hollande last month.

Projections of the final outcome based on Sunday’s vote suggested the Socialist-led group could win an outright majority in the 577-seat assembly next Sunday, the best outcome for Mr Hollande. But it was almost assured of doing so in league with the Greens, who have an electoral pact with the Socialists.

That would relieve Mr Hollande of the need to rely on the communist-backed Left Front, which has pledged to oppose tough measures to reduce France’s high debt but which is set to see its number of seats in the assembly reduced.

Mr Hollande has himself strongly criticised German-led austerity in the crisis-hit eurozone and has pushed for urgent measures to stimulate growth. But he is also committed to reducing France’s budget deficit to 3 per cent of gross domestic product next year, a task bound to require tough spending cuts that the Left Front opposes.

The far-right National Front won just under 14 per cent of the vote, less than the 18 per cent achieved by Marine Le Pen, the party leader, in the presidential election. But it could still win up to three seats, its first since the late 1980s.

A jubilant Ms Le Pen won 42 per cent of the vote in her northern constituency, easily rebuffing the challenge from Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the Left Front. A humiliated Mr Mélenchon failed to qualify for the second round. Ms Le Pen has a good chance of defeating the Socialist party candidate who outpolled him.

Ms Le Pen said: “Tonight we confirm our position as the third political force if the country.” She said Mr Mélenchon’s failure showed the “total disconnection” between himself and the popular electorate.

The National Front will contest UMP candidates in a number of constituencies in the second round, threatening to split the vote on the right and let in socialist candidates.

But UMP leaders ruled out any deal with Ms Le Pen. Jean-François Copé, party first secretary, said: “There will be no alliance with the National Front, that is clear.”

UMP leaders also insisted there was all to play for next week. François Fillon, prime minister under Mr Sarkozy, said the results showed there had not been a “pink wave” of support for the left, nor a trend in favour of Mr Hollande’s programme.