(VOVworld)- France's Socialist government survived a parliament no-confidence vote called by opposition conservatives on Thursday after it resorted to a controversial decree to bypass broad opposition to a flagship economic reform bill.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls delivers a speech before a no-confidence vote against French government at the National Assembly in Paris February 19, 2015.Credit: Reuters/Christian Hartmann

Some 234 lawmakers voted in favor of the motion, according to the official vote tally - well short of the 289 votes needed to secure an absolute majority in the lower house of parliament. The challenge was made after Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday resorted to a little-used mechanism to push through a package of economically liberal reforms opposed by the left - a tactic widely denounced as anti-democratic. However the outcome of the no-confidence vote came as little surprise after Socialist leaders said they would eject from the party any lawmaker who joined the censure motion.