French voters face last choice

Chirac appears to be on the road to victory in Sunday's legislative elections

PARIS, France -- Voting has begun in the final round of French parliamentary elections -- the fourth and final polling day in just over a month.

Opinion polls published on the eve of voting gave President Jacques Chirac's centre-right allies a strong lead over their socialist opponents who have been urging their supported against apathy.

If Chirac's Rally for the Republic Party wins it will be his second victory in a month after successfully defending his presidency against far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen.

This time he hopes to secure a parliamentary majority which will end the 'cohabitation' of his last term -- where he held the presidency but the left held the majority in parliament.

Despite pleas from the left to its supporters who failed to cast their votes in the first-round round a week ago, the surprise of Sunday's poll could well be the size of the right-wing majority. (Story)

If enough of the 35.6 percent that abstained in the first round cast ballots in the second and final round, it could radically shift the political balance.

EXTRA INFORMATION In-depth: France Decides 2002

"The left beheaded?" asked the popular daily Le Parisien, above photographs of four prominent Socialist deputies who may lose their seats, two months after former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin quit after a humiliating defeat in the presidential election.

The left-wing Le Monde said: "A tidal wave for Chirac's allies depends on the behaviour of the 14.6 million abstentionists and, to a lesser extent, the 2.9 million National Front voters."

Bad weather, gloom over France's exit from the soccer World Cup and a slump in Paris stocks to nine-month lows on Friday will not make people any keener to get out and vote for the fourth time in two months.

Of the 577 National Assembly seats, 58 were won in the first round and 1,045 candidates remain in the race for the 519 at stake in Sunday's vote.

A right-wing majority would give newly reelected Chirac a free hand to push through reforms, from tax cuts to a loosening of labour laws and changes in pension provision, after a frustrating five years of 'cohabitation' with the left.

"Mr. Chirac will be able to do what he wants, he will be master of the game, no more the arbiter like he has been for the last five years," Phillipe Moreau De Farges of the French Foreign Relations Institute, told CNN.

"He has really become the man who is responsible for France's future, with no more excuses."

CNN's Jim Bitterman said: "The surprising combination of electoral events this spring, which not even Chirac anticipated, has led to a complete turnabout in the president's political fortunes.

"It's a turnabout some call the luckiest in French history -- something they do not say about France's football fortunes." (Analysis)

Even before campaigning came to an end on Friday, Francois Hollande, who inherited the Socialist leadership after Jospin's exit, conceded that it would be nothing short of extraordinary if the left did well.