French go for lower house polls

French voters today are casting their ballots in a runoff of a lower house election.

Voting began on Sunday morning for 541 of the 577 electoral districts where no candidate won an outright majority in the first round on June 10th.

Opinion polls show that President Francois Hollande's Socialist Party and other leftist groups are expected to win far more seats than the 289 needed for a majority.

Political experts are of opinion   on  the Socialists can secure a majority to give a solid power base to Hollande, France's first Socialist president in 17 years.

If left-leaning parties win a majority, France will have a socialist president and both chambers of parliament will be controlled by the left for the first time since the Fifth Republic began in 1959.Media agencies