France?s Socialists, reeling at the prospect of a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections, yesterday called on voters to prevent a landslide victory for President Nicolas Sarkozy in next week?s second round ballot. Sarkozy?s ruling UMP is set for an overwhelming victory in the runoff parliamentary vote on June 17 after a first round vote on Sunday that left the party and its allies set to secure between 383 and 470 seats in the 557-member National Assembly.

The likely margin of the victory will give Sarkozy added impetus for his agenda to reform tax and labour laws but left opposition leaders claiming the president would wield too much power.

?A republic has to have counterweights,? Segolene Royal, the Socialist candidate Sarkozy defeated in last month?s presidential election, told RTL radio.

She said she would talk to Francois Bayrou, the ?third man? candidate whose strong campaign shook up the presidential election but whose centrist group is set to win just a handful of seats in parliament.

?The success of the UMP is without precedent in the Fifth Republic,? said the conservative daily Le Figaro, whose front page headline yesterday ran: ?The Sarkozy Dynamic.?