  We study the Z_N symmetry in SU(N)+Higgs theories with the Higgs field in the
fundamental representation. The distributions of the Polyakov loop show that
the Z_N symmetry is explicitly broken in the Higgs phase. On the other hand,
inside the Higgs symmetric phase the Polyakov loop distributions and other
physical observables exhibit the Z_N symmetry. This effective restoration of
the Z_N symmetry changes the nature of the confinement-deconfinenement
transition. We argue that the Z_N symmetry will lead to time independent
topological defect solutions in the Higgs symmetric deconfined phase which will
play important role at high temperatures.
