By Richard Hamilton BBC, Antananarivo

Parties supporting the president of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, look set to win a substantial majority in parliament following elections on Sunday.

Although the official results will not be published for another 10 days, the early evidence emerging from the election suggests Madagascar's parliament will be dominated by politicians who support Marc Ravalomanana.

Sunday's elections were a crucial test of the legitimacy of the president in the wake of disputed elections exactly a year ago.

Western donors, including the United States and the European Union, put pressure for the poll, originally scheduled for May 2003, to be brought forward before they release $2.4m they have pledged.

Reversal of power?

In the capital, where the turnout was between 60 and 65%, all 12 of the available seats in parliament were won by candidates from the Tim party, which stands for "I love Madagascar", formed by the president himself, or by politicians from the wider coalition of pro-Ravalomanana parties known as National Solidarity.

Interior Minister Jean-Seth Rambeloarijaona told me he expects National Solidarity to have a majority in parliament of between 65 and 70%.

If his predictions prove to be correct, it would represent a complete reversal of the existing power structure of parliament which has until now been dominated by The Vanguard for Madagascan Renewal (Arema), the party of the former president, Didier Ratsiraka.

No-one doubts that Mr Ravalomanana is the real centre of attention

Most Arema politicians boycotted the election.

The minister also said that the only reported incidents of violence during Sunday's polls were in two districts in the south of the country, Ilakaka and Fandroha, where people were prevented from getting to the polling stations for part of the day.

It is believed the turnout in rural and coastal districts was slightly lower than in the capital - around 50%.

The results of these areas are taking much longer to filter through.

So far only a handful of results have been announced, but they too show victories for National Solidarity by a huge margin.

The official results are expected to be announced on 25 December.