Paris: President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative party won a clear but not crushing parliamentary majority in elections crucial to his ambitious vision for opening up France's economy.

The opposition Socialists, just days ago given up for nearly dead, staged an impressive comeback on Sunday and thwarted the expected landslide for Sarkozy's governing right. His government suffered the added stinging blow of a defeat for a senior Cabinet minister, who immediately announced his resignation. Sarkozy's UMP party and its allies got 346 of the 577 seats in the National Assembly, parliament's lower house. That was fewer than the 359 seats that the UMP used to have. But the right's majority, a still comfortable 57 seats, means that Sarkozy should face little legislative resistance to the rash of measures he plans to introduce within weeks to make France's sluggish economy more competitive and less protective.

The opposition left secured a better than expected 226 seats, led by the Socialists, reinvigorated by their 185 seats, a considerable improvement on their 149 in the last parliament. The Socialists capitalized on fears of a rubber stamp parliament for Sarkozy and worries about a 5 percent sales tax increase, intended to finance social programs.

The result suggested that voters, long driven by leftist ideals, wanted to send the hard driving and US friendly, Sarkozy, a message that his powers are not absolute, and to keep their concerns in mind.

Some have even predicted mass street protests like those that stymied former President Jacques Chirac's efforts to free up the economy or an eruption of violence in France's housing projects if Sarkozy goes too far, too fast. "The French showed they did not want to give all of the power to Nicolas Sarkozy," said former Justice Minister Elisabeth Guigou, a Socialist.

It marked the first political hiccup for Sarkozy, a kinetic 52 year old son of a Hungarian immigrant, since he was elected president last month. Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande said his party had resurrected itself. "Its good for the country," said Hollande. "France will walk on both legs."

Last week's first round of voting had left the Socialists expecting few more than 100 seats, while the buoyant UMP was looking forward to the strongest parliamentary majority in the history of modern France. But the sales tax proposal muddied the UMP's campaign. Leftists said it would hurt poor and middle class consumers.

Sarkozy felt obliged to release a statement saying he would not allow the tax increase if it hurt purchasing power. "The government started to govern too early," said Etienne Schweisguth, of the Institute of Political Sciences.

Despite the UMP's weaker than predicted performance, the result still marked a milestone: It was the first time in nearly three decades that voters returned an outgoing parliamentary majority to power. Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the right would waste no time in using its majority to 'resolutely modernize' France, with parliament called as soon as next month to approve reforms on labor, employment, consumer spending, law and order, universities, immigration and reducing the disruptiveness of strikes. "We dont want to wait any longer to launch the renovation that the French are calling for," he said. "We will reform, we will renovate, we will experiment with new ideas. We will get rid of the defeatism that is suffocating the Republic."

Sarkozy's government has already scheduled an extraordinary session of the new parliament starting June 26. But the president also faced the prospect of reshuffling his government after senior minister Alain Juppe, who oversaw the environment, energy and other portfolios, lost his legislative battle and announced that he would resign on Monday. Juppe is often associated with deeply unpopular reforms he championed in the 1990s as Chirac's prime minister, and was convicted in 2004 in a party financing scandal. Turnout was a record low 60 percent.

In percentage terms, the UMP got 46 percent of the vote to 42 percent for the Socialists. The election was a victory for bipartisanship, squeezing out the once influential political margins. Jean Marie Le Pen's far right National Front again got no seats, after Sarkozy's successful bid to woo Le Pen voters with tough talk on immigrants and crime.

For years the spoiler in parliamentary elections, able to help decide the outcome in districts where its candidates were present, the party is on its knees. The Communists were reduced to 15 seats, the Greens grew from three to four. The new centrist party of Francois Bayrou failed to capitalize on his strong third place in the presidential race, winning just three seats.

The Socialists future was the most immediate political question. The long fractured party had expected to face some deep soul searching about whether to follow other European leftists who have tilted toward the center. It still need much regrouping to do. Party boss Hollande and the beaten Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal said Sunday that they are separating after 30 years and four children together. She has made clear that she wants to take over as party leader.