Socialists take French Parliament, sweep power

Francois Hollande is the man in charge after his Socialist Party swept France's parliamentary election. Voters welcomed the French president's vision of injecting government money into Europe's economies in hopes of helping the joint euro currency stave off disaster.                 

France's election Sunday also gave the far right National Front a toehold in parliament, a small but symbolic victory for a party that wants to stop immigration, dump the euro currency and decries the so-called "Islamization" of France. The conservative UMP party of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, which dominated the outgoing parliament, suffered the biggest losses.              

The balloting to elect 577 lawmakers for France's lower and more powerful house of parliament came on the same day that conservatives won a parliamentary election in Greece.              

With final results still coming in, pollsters estimated France's Socialists and their closest allies will hold between 313 and 315 seats, well over the 289 needed for a majority and exempting them from horse-trading with far-leftists who oppose some of Hollande's pro-European policies.                       

Sarkozy's UMP party went from 304 seats in the old Assembly to an estimated 214 in the new one, after Sarkozy himself lost his re-election bid to Hollande just six weeks ago.


AP