Paris - French President Francois Hollande's Socialists and other left-wing parties were expected to lose their majority in the Senate as voting got underway Sunday for half the seats in the country's upper house.
The ballot comes six months after the Socialists received a battering in local elections - which saw centre- and far-right parties make big gains - and as Hollande continues to haemorrhage support amid a stalled economy and personal scandals.
The right's electoral gains were forecast to continue, with the anti-immigrant, anti-EU National Front (FN) predicted to win several of the 179 seats up for grabs for the first time.
The public does not directly elect Senate members.
Instead, the chamber is chosen by an electoral college consisting of 87,500 representatives who already hold positions on local and regional councils.
The Senate wields less power than the directly elected lower house, the National Assembly, where left-wing parties earned an absolute majority in the 2012 legislative elections.
But while the Senate cannot bring down a government, for instance, it can block amendments to the constitution. It can also delay the adoption of legislation by sending bills back for revisions to the National Assembly.
The president of the Senate is also the country's second-highest ranking politician. According to the constitution, if the state president resigns or dies in office, the Senate president stands in until new elections are held.
Sapa-dpa