The French press assesses the future of the Socialist opposition after President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party won another decisive victory in the second round of parliamentary elections.

Two papers say the Socialists are still a force to be reckoned with and that the party halted an anticipated "tsunami" of votes for the right. But others think the left will have to undergo a complete rethink, and predict new rivalries in the Socialist camp.

One major regional daily, Ouest-France, picks up on the separation of former presidential candidate Segolene Royal from her partner, Socialist party leader Francois Hollande.

What happened yesterday is... certainly a warning. All the events of last week show, in fact, that the left has not lost its ability to react and to mobilise. And its strong push between the two rounds is ample proof that while the French have been won over to the idea of reform, they are not ready to accept something [a rise in VAT] that has not matured over a long time.

Even waves disperse - and the left breathes again... The second round applied the brakes sharply to what most of the polling institutes were predicting to be a "tsunami" of votes for the right, comparable to the red tidal wave that swept over the regional councils in 2004.

The right, in spite of a decrease in the turnout in its favour, won. The left, in spite of a spurt, lost. While the blue tide did not swell to the point of drowning everything, you would still, as seismologists do, need to refer to an aftershock... to remind you that there was indeed a quake on 6 May with Nicolas Sarkozy's victory.

The opposition's task remains difficult... It will be necessary... not to remain tied to a suicidal defence of the status quo. The temptation will emerge, strengthened by the respectable number of left-wing deputies elected on Sunday. It would be fatal. Sarkozy won more a cultural than an electoral victory. So the priority is to rethink the political culture of the left.

Segolene Royal is no longer Francois Hollande's partner. Ideological or emotional, the distance between them was such that their separation is no surprise... Rivalry is now likely to take off again in a big way between her, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who can boast of a brilliant re-election and Laurent Fabius, who caught out Economy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo over the business of the VAT policy.

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