"Among the big losers on Sunday were extremist parties at both ends of the political spectrum.

The far-right National Front saw its vote halved to some 5 percent, with no seats in view, while the Communists suffered their worst parliamentary performance in postwar history, taking 5 percent of the vote, which could give between 6-13 seats.

Former leftist finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn said each Socialist deputy would be "an additional voice for democracy. In the Assembly, having 400, 450 right-wing deputies and a small number of left-wing deputies makes democratic debate impossible."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070610/...ce_election_dc