France's centre-right is set to punish a battered left in parliamentary elections starting on Sunday, but a record number of candidates, voter apathy and the risk of a resurgent far-right mean a shock result cannot be ruled out.
Pollsters predict allies of newly re-elected President Jacques Chirac will win a comfortable majority in parliament at the two-round vote tomorrow and on June 16, securing the head of state power to push through reforms on tax and crime.
Commentators today said an average of 15 candidates per constituency could scatter votes and boost the National Front, whose populist leader Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen stunned the world by charging into the runoff of a presidential vote.
Record abstention levels, which also helped Mr Le Pen last time, could also throw a spanner in the works as bored voters disillusioned with an elite political class slump back into apathy after a few weeks of anti-Le Pen activism.
Left-leaning daily Liberationwarned today turnout could hit a record low and candidates used their final campaign volleys to appeal to supporters to vote, and to vote wisely.
The campaign fell silent today as the 8,446 candidates fighting for 575 seats laid low to give France's 41 million voters a day to mull their options.