[Cowboy Bob]

At first, it was widely assumed that Sarkozy's openness was purely tactical. He knew he had defeated Royal in the presidential election by about six percentage points, and presumably he feared he might not win a working majority in the National Assembly in the elections in June: a well-founded concern, as it turned out, since the right took 314 seats out of 577, an absolute majority, but short of the 400 or 450 seats most pollsters had predicted.

I believe that Sarkozy lost his 400-450 seat majority in the last few days before the election when he attempted to "reached out" to the opposition by trying to appear more moderate.

A lesson to be learned. First you win the election, then you reach out to the opposition - and on your terms.

[Cincinna]

I have to disagree. Reaching out to the opposition to be inclusive was overwhelmingly approved by almost all French voters.

I think he lost quite a few seats over the controversy over over the VAT. The sales tax increase Jean-Louis Borloo was stupid enough to inject into the discussion in the last week before the Election.