France turns against the far-right

President Jacques Chirac's centre-right scored a resounding victory ­ and the far-right slumped dramatically ­ in the first round of the French parliamentary elections yesterday.

On the basis of that vote, the President's supporters should win an overwhelming majority of seats in the national assembly in the second round of the election next Sunday.

Although the centre-left recovered somewhat from its disastrous performance in the presidential election in April, it looks certain to be crushed in next week's decisive round. Mr Chirac will then be able to choose a prime minister of the centre-right ­ almost certainly his interim choice, Jean-Pierre Raffarin ­ putting an end to five years of power-sharing between right and left.

According to estimates last night, the centre-right took 43.9 per cent of the nationwide vote, the centre-left 37.1 per cent and the National Front 11.2 per cent.

This compared to the nearly 17 per cent scored by the far-right leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in the first round of the presidential election on 21 April and the nearly 15 per cent the NF scored in the last parliamentary elections five years ago.

Although the entire electorate has to vote again on Sunday ­ for the fourth time in eight weeks ­ the first-round result promises the centre-right up to 420, and at least 380, of the 577 seats in parliament. The left is predicted to emerge with between 175 and 135 seats and the NF, at most, with only two.

Mr Raffarin said: "I am aware of the size of the task ahead. What is needed is tenacity, solidarity and efficiency." His government has already promised an immediate 5 per cent cut in income tax and a crackdown on crime.

The Socialist leader, François Hollande, said that France faced a "major risk" of the centre-right being over-dominant in the new parliament, with "all the power to carry out" its "dangerous" policies. He appealed to left-wing voters at least to reduce the majority of the right in the second round.

Mr Le Pen appeared stunned by the poor performance of his party, so soon after he shocked France and the world by eliminating the Socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin, and breaking through to the second round of the presidential elections.

He challenged the accuracy of the projected figures and accused "Communist-dominated" unions of blocking the delivery of NF campaign material in some areas.

His party had hoped to fight the second round in as many as 200 constituencies. Projections suggested yesterday that it would be lucky, under the complex rules, to survive in more than 100 and that it might be knocked out in all but 30 or 40.

The turn-out nationwide was the lowest recorded in a French parliamentary election ­ only 64 per cent. Normally this would favour the far-right but it seemed that it was NF voters and, up to a point, those of the mainstream left who failed to go to the polls.

The result returns French politics to "normal", with a president and a parliament and prime minister from the same political "family". For the next five years, Mr Chirac will once again become the supreme figure in French politics, with a prime minister operating as his political shield and chief executive.

The relative collapse in the far-right vote ­ following a rise in the strength of ultra-right populism across Europe ­ will be welcomed throughout the European Union and beyond. The far-right is far from vanquished in France, but many people will take comfort from this being likely to be Mr Le Pen's last election. He is 74 this month and there is no credible successor in sight.