About 44.5 million French voters cast their ballots on June 10 to elect a new National Assembly. More than 700,000 voters in France’s overseas territories performed their voting duty one day ahead of schedule. Turnouts in France's parliamentary elections are much lower than they were in the presidential election a month ago.

After the first round, the UMP party and coalition parties will hold between 383 and 501 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, while the left-wing socialist party and coalition parties have only secured a maximum of 185 seats. Accordingly, the UMP party will have a larger majority than the 359 seats they currently hold in the National Assembly against the Socialists, who have 149 seats at present.

During the days before the elections, both the French President and Prime Minister showed determination to win an overwhelming majority for the UMP party in this year’s elections. In particular, President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed a series of important reform measures regarding tax, finance, retirement policy and tertiary teaching which are raising great public concerns. Furthermore, the UMP party also used the presidential election victory as a lever to continue to win the parliamentary elections this time.

After the first-round elections, leaders of the left-wing socialist party and coalition parties have not conceded defeat and decided to create a “blue wave” in order to gain more seats in the parliament.

Many political experts expect that the UMP party and coalition parties will win an overwhelming victory at the legislative election this time. This is a favourable condition for President Nicolas Sarkozy and his party to implement strong reform strategies.

As planned, after the elections, Mr Sarkozy will hold a special session of parliament in July to introduce his first set of political reforms, which include tougher immigration rules and more freedom for universities.

The second round of France’s parliamentary elections will be held on June 17.