No Landslide

The political party of Nicolas Sarkozy has won the French parliamentary elections, but by a much slimmer margin than had been predicted. He did not receive the landslide everyone had predicted. Apparently, voter turnout was very low.

PARIS (AFP) - President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing party won a clear majority to carry out reforms in France's legislative election Sunday, but failed to secure a widely predicted landslide.

His Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) won 319-329 seats in the 577-member National Assembly, 30-40 seats fewer than in the outgoing parliament, according to projections after the decisive second round. Another 20 seats were expected to go to centrist allies.

Sarkozy's party had been expected to score a "blue wave" landslide after his stunning presidential election win over Socialist Segolene Royal in May. But amid a low turnout, the Socialist Party made a surprise comeback, jumping from 149 to 202-210 seats.

In an embarrassing blow to Sarkozy, former prime minister Alain Juppe resigned as environment superminister and government number two after failing to win a seat in his Bordeaux stronghold.

Sarkozy had brought the 61-year-old Juppe back from political exile after his conviction in a party finance scandal and given him one of the most prominent portfolios in his right-wing government.

But Economy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said the government had scored a "historic success" in becoming the first ruling party since 1978 to retain control of the National Assembly. The UMP had 359 seats in the old parliament.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon also said France had "made a clear and coherent choice" by giving Sarkozy "a majority to act".

The socialists are spinning it by claiming voters wanted Sarkozy "checked." Actually, in a low voter turnout scenario it is whoever can best mobilize their base to get to the polls who tends to do better than expected. I rather suspect it has a lot more to do with that. In a high turnout, as Sarkozy got, there was a clear majority in favor of change. And Sarkozy still has the political muscle right now to make changes. It just isn't by as big a majority.