By Alasdair Sandford BBC News, Paris

Voter turnout was down to 60% in the second-round election

After the wave of euphoria that swept through the UMP and its supporters following Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential victory in France, it seems as if the predicted "blue wave" in parliament has failed to materialise.

The new president will still have an absolute majority in the National Assembly, but it looks like being far from the crushing victory the opinion polls had forecast.

The result, if confirmed, could have a direct effect on how Mr Sarkozy approaches his reform programme.

He had hoped to put before parliament a wide range of measures before the summer recess: to encourage people to work more, to give universities more autonomy, to tighten the rules on immigration.

But the new parliament may not be the Sarkozy steamroller many had talked about.

'No tsunami'

Already the prime minister, Francois Fillon, has said the government will seek consensus and dialogue as it sets about implementing its programme.

The abstention rate was higher than during the first round - fewer than 60% appear to have turned out to vote.

That seems to have damaged the right more than the left - the Socialists, in some disarray beforehand, had feared the worst. Segolene Royal had talked of a "blue tsunami".