Center-Right Coalition Led by Jacques Chirac Wins French Elections - 2002-06-17

With the results of the second round of elections in France becoming clear, reports indicate that the center-right coalition led by President Jacques Chirac has achieved a decisive majority in Parliament. Mr. Chirac's conservative allies have secured 400 out of 577 parliamentary seats, thus ending the five-year control of the Socialists over Parliament. The Socialists obtained 150 seats and the Communists 23 seats. The far-right, represented by the National Front led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, did not win any seats in Parliament, although Le Pen reached the second round in the recent presidential elections. Reports indicate that 62% of the 41 million registered voters participated in the second round of parliamentary elections, compared to only 64% in the first round. Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a conservative politician appointed as Prime Minister by Jacques Chirac, will thus control Parliament for the next five years. This victory for the conservatives ends a situation that had prevailed in France for the past five years, where the Prime Minister was from the Socialist Party and the President from the right wing.