French President Nicolas Sarkozy's center-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and its allies looked set to win a powerful majority in Sunday's parliamentary runoff.

All final opinion polls showed that the UMP and its allies would secure over 400 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, a big victory over the Socialist Party (PS) who are likely to win between 125 to 149.

In the first round of parliamentary vote last Sunday, Sarkozy's UMP and its allies secured 109 seats out of the 110 seats filled outright in constituencies where a single candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote.

The rest 467 seats will be decided by some 35 million registered voters in the runoff.

The PS currently has 149 seats in the assembly. If the number falls to below 100, some party leaders are likely to be called to resign.

The expected success of the UMP will be the first time since 1978 that a ruling party has retained its majority, giving Sarkozy powerful support for pushing through his reforms to revive France's economy.

Source: Xinhua