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Roundup: Conservative UMP party leads first round of France's departments election

Xinhua, March 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

France's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and its allies from the centre parties won the first round of the country's regional councils on Sunday, defeating the ruling Socialists who lost their third election test due to high unpopularity and rifts in their camp, according to an exit poll.

A CSA poll showed former president Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP and partners collecting 31 percent of the votes, snatching the first place and defeating the far-right National France (FN), widely expected to be the star performer of the first round.

Eying to register spectacular gains that could pave the way for Marine Le Pen to the Elysee Palace, FN candidates garnered 24.5 percent.

As expected, President Francois Hollande's Socialists secured 19.7 percent, 12 percentage points less than the first round of 2011 regional election.

Analysts said the government's failure to deliver on their pledges of better growth and more jobs and repeated broken promise would favor the surge of the extreme parties and consolidated chances of the anti-immigrant FN party to govern the eurozone second largest power.

"The left is divided and the executive team suffers from high unpopularity. The leftists will pay for that and a fair number of them will be eliminated in the second round," Bernard Sananes, CSA director told news channel BFMTV.

Shortly after the results' release, Prime Minister Manuel Valls stressed that "nothing is settled" before the second round of the departmental elections scheduled for next Sunday, urging the "republicans" to mobilize against the National Front.

"The candidates of the majority have made honorable scores. Too scattered in the first round, the left must now come together to keep the largest number of cantons and departments in the left wing," the French premier said.

"I call for the mobilization that is what will make the difference (in the second round)," he added.

According to Jean-Marie Le Guen, junior minister for relations with parliament, the left would have been eliminated from 500 cantons out of 2,054 cantons in 101 departments in the first round.

To Sarkozy, the head of the conservatives, Sunday's votes mirrored "deep desire of the French to a clear change. "

Marine Le Pen, the far-rightists' leader hailed remarkable score of the FN which according to her is "the only who can bring citizens to the polls."

About 43 million registered voters cast their ballots to pick councilors in 2,054 cantons in 101 departments, except in Paris, Lyon and overseas.

In order to win a seat at the regional council, candidates have to collect half of the votes. Otherwise they will go to the second round scheduled for March 29 and have to win at least 12.5 percent of the votes next Sunday. Endit