He also had to contend with a Socialist opponent, despite there having been talk in the Socialist Party of not standing a candidate in his constituency, as a gesture of acknowledgment for his endorsement of Hollande.

President Jacques Chirac, who called the elections that have produced a parliamentary majority for his Socialist opponents, knows well what life can be like when the President and Prime Minister are from different parties.

As the Critics See It Socialist opponents of Mr. Balladur's conservative Cabinet blamed the Prime Minister for weakening the franc by hastily reducing certain interest rates last week.

His Socialist opponent, President Francois Mitterrand, said he was "very sad" as a result of the operation, adding that he "always preferred the other way, the other means, that is to say conciliation, mediation."

Luis Inacio (Lula) da Silva, his Socialist opponent in the two-man race, is presented to viewers as "the only chance of change against authoritarianism."

It was 52.64 percent for Mr. Chirac and 47.36 percent for his Socialist opponent, Lionel Jospin, with a turnout of 79.65 percent of the almost 40 million registered voters.

For Philippe Lerch, there was little mystery to why expatriates as a group preferred the conservative, tough-talking, pro-American Mr. Sarkozy to his Socialist opponent, Ségolène Royal.

He immediately joined the Liberal Party caucus of Sir Wilfrid Laurier and subsequently ran and won re-election as a straight Liberal against Conservative and Socialist opponents.

In the previous election, the Democratic candidate had faced a Republican and a Socialist opponent.

The Liberal Democrats thwarted their Socialist opponents, maintained their one-party rule, forged close ties with Washington and fought off public opposition to the United States' maintaining military bases throughout Japan.