Voting began today in some overseas French territories in the final round of a parliamentary election expected to give conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy a big majority for his reform plans.
Final opinion polls suggested the left-wing opposition might perform better than previously expected after putting conservative Prime Minister Francois Fillon on the defensive over plans to increase value added tax.
Voting began on the tiny islands of St Pierre and Miquelon, off eastern Canada. About 1 million French voters in overseas territories, in the Americas and French Polynesia, can cast their ballots a day before voters in mainland France.
Polling in the mainland starts at 7am Irish time tomorrow and ends at 7pm, when the first television projections of the outcome will be known. Some 44.5 million voters are eligible to choose deputies in the lower house for a five-year term.
Of the 110 deputies elected outright in the first round on June 10th, only one was a Socialist, prompting predictions that a conservative "blue tide" would sweep aside opponents in the 577-member National Assembly in tomorrow's run-off voting.
"The size of the right's victory is the only unknown of the second round," wrote the conservative newspaper Le Figaro, saying Mr Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement was aiming to clear the 400-seat barrier. It had 359 seats in the outgoing parliament.