Sarkozy's party drubs opposition Socialists

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s governing conservatives trounced France’s Socialists in voting for the European parliament, while an ecology-minded party vaulted to a surprisingly strong third place, according to early official results.

The Socialists, who dominated the last vote in 2004, suffered a stinging defeat.

“We will continue to modernise France,” Prime Minister Francois Fillon said after polls closed.

He attributed his party’s success to the government’s handling of its stint as rotating president of the European Union last year, and vowed to pursue a plan to loosen France’s labour rules to make the country more competitive internationally.

With 76.1% of votes counted, the Interior Ministry reported Mr Sarkozy’s conservative UMP had 27.43% of the vote, the Socialist Party had 16.96% and Europe Ecologie had 15.02%.

The centrist MoDem did worse than expected, with 8.52%, according to the ministry. The far right National Front had 6.62%.

In 2004, Socialists took 28.9% of the vote and the conservatives 16.6%, in a blow to then-President Jacques Chirac.

The Socialists blamed this year’s poor showing – their worst in a European parliamentary vote since 1994 – on internal divisions about the role of the European Union and modern socialism.