Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Mon 06 Jun 2007Sarkozy's party poised for sweeping victory in FranceResults from the first round of legislative elections yesterday indicate that France's new right-wing president, Nicolas Sarkozy, will obtain an overwhelming, unprecedented majority in the National Assembly in the run-off next Sunday.Mr Sarkozy's UMP party received 45.8 per cent of the vote in the first round - an absolute record in France - compared to 36.6 per cent for the socialists, communists and greens, and 7.4 per cent for François Bayrou's new centrist party, the MoDem, according to estimates by the TNS-Sofres polling institute.