Spotlight: France's far-right National Front party leads first-round regional elections

France's far-right National Front (FN) party enjoyed a big lead in the first round of France's regional elections on Sunday, a major breakthrough for the party as it gears up for 2017 presidential elections.

The FN, led by Marine Le Pen, garnered around 28 percent of the vote nationwide and topped the list in at least six of 13 regions, according to the interior ministry.

The result came just over three weeks after terrorist attacks in Paris killed 130 people, with more than 350 others wounded.

The ruling Socialist Party (PS), which dominated councils of French districts, failed to appease discontent voters on economic woes and security worries. It ranked the third with 23.5 percent of the votes, the interior ministry said in a statement.

A grouping of right-wing parties ranked the second, with 27 percent of the votes.

"This vote confirms what previous polls had announced. The national movement is now the largest party in France, while it is barely represented in parliament," Le Pen told TF1 TV channel.

Meanwhile, Le Pen won 41.9 of the votes in France's northernmost area,Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie region, and her niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen, came out first too in the southeastern Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region.

Le Pen and Marion Marechal-Le Pen -- respectively the daughter and grand-daughter of the FN's firebrand founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen -- emerged as major players in France's political landscape.

Some 44.6 million French voters were registered as eligible to cast their ballots across the country's polling stations.

A total of 21,456 candidates represented in 171 lists are competing for seats in councils of 13 French regions to manage mainly local transport, education and unemployment.

Candidates have to collect half of the votes. Otherwise they will go to the second round scheduled for Dec. 13 and have to win at least 10 percent of the votes on Sunday. Endi