France holds 2nd round of regional election with the right poised to win

French voters headed into the second round of regional elections Sunday to choose their regional councils, with the right poised to win after taking the lead in the first round.

Poll stations, except in Paris, Lyon and overseas, opened 8:00 a.m. local time in French metropolis during the second round and will close at 6:00 p.m. except for several big towns that postpone their closure for one hour.

In the runoff, voters will pick 2,054 councilors out of a total of 4,108 for a three-year mandate. The first round on March 22 has fixed the seats in 149 cantons.

In a binomial ballot, voters will choose in each list a male and female candidates in order to improve gender equality in line with a reform adopted in 2013.

Till midday, the participation rate was registered at 15.63 percent, according to the Interior Ministry, lower than 18.02 percent recorded at the same hour in the first round, but 2 percentage points higher than the runoff of the councilors election in 2011.

Results of first-round voting on March 22 revealed that former president Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative UMP party and its allies obtained 29.4 percent of the vote, higher than the 25.19 percent secured by the far-right National Front party (FN).

The governing Socialists won the third place with 21.85 percent of votes, according to final results issued by the interior ministry.

Given the first-round results and recent polls, the conservatives are in a position to win the race to France's regional councils and consolidated their leader's chance to occupy the Elysee Palace for a second time in 2017.

An ifop poll for Europe1 radio sees the UMP and its allies winning the election nearly twice as many seats as the Socialist Party (PS) with up to 1,110 cantons against up to 680 cantons expected for the left.

In addition, the survey pointed that between 20 and 40 of the 61 departments held by the country's leftists would switch to the right camp.

As to the FN, Marine Le Pen's anti-immigrant party which was building a growing public support, would seize the first place in up to 110 cantons.

"The FN is now popular nationwide, its popularity has reached a level that is high, too high," Prime Minister Manuel Valls told the weekly Le Journal du Dimanche.

"We will continue to act to reform although the defeat of the Left is expected ... We have to give signs of confidence. I am serene, we can start to win back the hearts and minds", he said, reiterating determination to continue reforms "essential for the left and vital for France." Endit