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PARIS France - President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative UMP party won an absolute majority in the final round of the French legislative elections, but the socialist PS put in an unexpectedly strong performance, according to initial estimates by polling agencies.
At the close of the polling stations at 8.00 pm, initial estimates gave the UMP 319 to 329 seats in the National Assembly, out of a total of 577, while the opposition PS socialist party was predicted to have won 202 to 210.
The outgoing National Assembly, the lower chamber of parliament, comprised 359 UMP deputies and 149 socialists.
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