THE PEOPLE of France gave the Socialist Communist Ecologist alliance a landslide victory in parliamentary elections yesterday, ending the centreright monopoly on executive and legislative power of the past two years. Mr Lionel Jospin, the Socialist leader, is expected to form a leftwing government in the next few days.
The leftwing alliance won 331 seats against 245 for the centreright coalition, according to exit polls conducted by the SOFRES polling institute. The interior ministry conceded that the left had won an overall majority, although final official results would not be available until early this morning.
Because of the idiosyncracies of the electoral system, the extreme right National Front - with perhaps 15 per cent of the vote - won only one seat.
The outgoing centre right which enjoyed a four fifths majority in the previous assembly, lost half its seats.
It was a humiliating defeat for President Jacques Chirac, who dissolved parliament on April 21st in the mistaken belief that his RPR-UDF centre right coalition would lose fewer seats now than if he waited until elections were due in March 1998.
The French election results mean that 11 of 15 European governments are now in the hands of the left, just two weeks before an important meeting of EU leaders in Amsterdam is to decide on institutional reforms in the Union.
The possible appointment of Mr Jacques Delors as foreign minister could allay concerns about the left's change of emphasis from economic to social policy within the EU. Mr Delors served as president of the European Commission from 1985 until 1995 and has a strong relationship with the German Chancellor, Dr Kohl.
The results represent a startling resurrection for the Socialist Party and its leader; in parliamentary elections four years ago, the left had suffered its worst defeat ever. Mr Jospin, who scored 48 per cent against Mr Chirac in the 1995 presidential election, is likely to be the left's candidate in the next presidential contest in five years.
In the meantime, he will govern with Mr Chirac, the first time that former rivals for the French presidency have been forced to "cohabit" as president and prime minister. It will also be the first time that a rightwing president "cohabits" with a leftwing prime minister.
In his home town of Cintegabelle, near Toulouse, Mr Jospin emotionally thanked the French people for electing a leftwing majority. "May they know my joy and my pride, and the feeling of responsibility that we feel," he said. The left had won because they respected the French people, carried on a dialogue with them and presented concrete plans, he said.
France's small ecologist parties did well, winning a total of nine seats in their first entry in the National Assembly. Among those elected was Ms Dominique Voynet, the Greens' leader. "The pink, red and green alliance worked very well," Ms Voynet said.
Crowds of Socialist supporters braved pouring rain into the small hours of the morning in Paris' boulevard St Germain to await Mr Jospin's arrival.