French President Jacques Chirac's center-right has won an absolute parliamentary majority after the second round of voting today. The National Front may have failed to win a single seat.
Official results published tonight showed Chirac's UMP and its smaller partner the UDF taking at least 289 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly
These results give the center-right control of parliament after five years of Socialist rule, which at times gave rise to policy stalemates between Parliament and the President.
Interim Prime Minister Raffarin welcomed the result, and promised quick action to implement election promises: "We have a duty not to disappoint the people," he said.
National Front leader Jan-Marie Le Pen, whose success in the first round of the Presidential election last month shocked majority French voters, condemned what he called a "rump parliament", which will be dominated by center-right supporters of President Chirac.
