Chirac to Seize Control of France's Parliament

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, June 10, 2002

Chirac to Seize Control of France's Parliament

President Jacques Chirac's conservative forces appeared set to seize control of France's parliament following a commanding victory Sunday in a first-round election, partials results showed.

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President Jacques Chirac's conservative forces appeared set to seize control of France's parliament following a commanding victory Sunday in a first-round election, partials results showed.

The extreme right, meanwhile, suffered a setback in Sunday's vote, which came more than a month after its leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, stunned the country with his strong showing in presidential elections.

With 75 percent of the vote counted, the Interior Ministry said Chirac's coalition of mainstream right parties won 33.2 percent of the vote in the race for France's National Assembly. The Socialists and their allies won about 25.8 percent. Le Pen's National Front recieved 11 percent of the vote. Le Pen was not a candidate. The remaining votes went to smaller parties.

Voter turnout was at a record low, as many in France were weary of frequent elections and distracted by soccer's World Cup.

Seats not won by an outright majority go to a second round of voting next Sunday. Results showed about 43 of 577 seats being won outright.

Stymied by five years of power-sharing with the outgoing, Socialist-led parliament, Chirac desperately wants a majority to avoid another five-year period of ``cohabitation,'' an unwieldy arrangement between opposite political parties that often results in governmental paralysis.

Turnout among France's 41 million voters was 65 percent, according to the Interior Ministry �� a record low for the first round of a legislative race under the Fifth Republic, established in 1958. In the last legislative race in 1997, turnout in the first round was 66 percent.

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