François Hollande's ministers face battle for election to parliament The French president, François Hollande. Half his ministers are standing for election. In the UK, politicians are generally elected to parliament first and then aspire to a cabinet job. In France, it's the other way around. Cabinet ministers were canvassing for support on Friday before the first round of a crucial parliamentary election which will decide whether François Hollande can depend on an absolute Socialist majority and a free hand for his solutions to the economic crisis, or whether he must rely on Green allies, or a trickier accommodation with hardline leftists. Hollande has already declared that any ministers who fail to get elected will automatically be kicked out of the government. He is hoping to avoid the embarrassment of Nicolas Sarkozy's first government in 2007 when one of the top ministers, Alain Juppé, lost the Bordeaux race, sparking a reshuffle. Hollande and his interim government are in political limbo until the two-round vote on 10 and 17 June. The Socialist president and his cabinet have been able to issue decrees on certain campaign promises such as reducing the retirement age to 60 for those who began work at 18 or 19, partially reversing Sarkozy's pension reform. But to steer a path through Europe's biggest financial crisis in decades, reboot France's stuttering economy, reverse the surge in unemployment and wipe out the government's overdraft without simple recourse to drastic austerity measures and while preserving a generous welfare state, Hollande needs the solid backing of parliament to pass his reforms. Final polls this week showed the broad left was expected to win the biggest number of seats, but it is uncertain whether Hollande's Socialist party will achieve an absolute majority. If not, Hollande would have to depend on backing from Green deputies to pass laws, or even the leftist Front de Gauche, including Communist MPs, who unlike the ecologists have no alliance with Hollande and could make for heated parliamentary dealings. "I can't drive change unless I have a parliamentary majority in the assembly," Hollande said. It is the first test for Hollande's gender-balanced cabinet, in which more than half of ministers are standing for election and a handful are facing a tough struggle to win their seat. Already some facing very hard races have quit the parliamentary battle, including the high-profile women's minister and government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. On the campaign trail in Metz in Moselle, north-eastern France, the culture minister, Aurelie Filippetti, one of the key young female faces in the cabinet, running a tough race, told reporters: "I'm prepared to take the risk of losing my government post in standing for universal suffrage, because there's no question of me abandoning La Moselle." Filippetti, from a local working-class family of miners with Italian immigrant roots, could be a victim of a new constituency carve-up under Sarkozy. Elected in 2007 with a wafer-thin margin, her old constituency has now disappeared, forcing her on to ground more favourable to the right. But campaigning as a minister with the personal appearance of the prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, alongside her she has, like other cabinet members fighting difficult seats, won the media-coverage war. Others in tough battles include the agriculture minister, Stephane Le Foll, one of Hollande's closest allies, who is fighting for a rural Normandy seat that has been held by the right since 1958. But his old adversary, the former prime minister François Fillon, is no longer running in the seat and at least one recent poll suggested Le Foll could win. Likewise, Marie-Arlette Carlotti, the junior minister for disability, has insisted on fighting a tough race against a key rightwing figure in her native Marseille, arguing that her allegiance to the southern port city was too strong to keep her away from the race. "It would be an embarrassment for the government if major figures were defeated and had to quit, but for now it doesn't look like key cabinet figures are in difficulty," said Emmanuel Rivière of the polling firm TNS-Sofres. Historically when a parliament vote comes just after a presidential election, the French people confirm their choice of leader by backing the president's party. Latest surveys suggest that is what will happen this time. One key issue for the future political landscape is the score of Sarkozy's rightwing UMP party, which has dominated political life for more than a decade. The far-right Front National led by Marine Le Pen hopes to capitalise on its high presidential showing and split the rightwing vote to the detriment of the UMP. The Front National could win its first seats since the 1980s, but it is uncertain whether its predicted 15% share of the vote will translate into any seats. The UMP, if it fares badly, is likely to descend into in-fighting and a brutal leadership battle. Another question is whether the new French parliament will slightly better reflect the diverse makeup of France. The last parliament had only one black MP from mainland France. The daily Libération estimated that up to 10 MPs with African or Maghreb roots could be elected this month. Jérôme Sainte-Marie of pollsters CSA said voters' key concerns were "jobs, pensions and structural solutions to the economic crisis and public debt."