Socialist win boosts Hollande agenda

French President Francois Hollande received the political support he says is crucial to repairing France's economy and the ailing eurozone, when his Socialists and allied parties won a majority of votes in parliamentary elections on Sunday.

The Socialist Party took 314 of the 577 seats in the lower-house National Assembly. Seats won by the Socialists' left-leaning allies brought the total to at least 331 seats, according to exit polls.

"Forty days after giving the keys to the Elysee to Francois Hollande for five years, the French people have given him all the means to exercise power," the business newspaper Les Echos wrote on Monday.