France’s Socialists won control of Parliament in a run-off vote yesterday, handing President Francois Hollande the convincing majority needed to push through a tough tax-and-spend agenda, estimates said.

The Socialists’ bloc obtained between 312 and 326 seats – an absolute majority in the 577-seat National Assembly – and so will not need to rely on the Greens or the far left, polling institutes Sofres and CSA said.

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP was slated to win between 212 and 234 seats, the Greens between 18 and 24 seats and the far-left Left Front between nine and 11, the polling institutes said.

Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigrant and anti-EU National Front (FN), which scored well in the first round, was set to take between one and four seats, returning an MP to Parliament for the first time since 1998.

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