Corsican Nationalists win France's island territorial election: exit poll

PARIS, Dec.10 (Xinhua) -- Corsican Nationalists emerged first on Sunday in the final vote for local assembly in the French island, a victory likely to push Bastia' new main power to demand real autonomy, data released by exit poll showed

With 90 percent of ballots counted, Pe a Corsica (For Corsica), an alliance of the two main nationalist parties, Gilles Simeoni's autonomist Femu a Corsica (Let's Build Corsica) and Jean-Guy Talamoni's pro-independence Corsica libera (Free Corsica), collected 56.9 percent of the vote, Ipsos pollster said.

The comfortable score paves the way for the Nationalists to win 42 out of 63 seats in the local assembly and take the command of the island, home of 332,000 population.

Candidates under the banner of the ruling centrist "Republic on the Move" party lagged behind with 13.3 percent, mirroring Corsican discontent with the government's policy.

"We are waiting for the final results, but the trend seems extraordinary," Simeoni was quoted as saying by local media.

The Nationalists want to meet central government in January to request for more autonomy and recognition of Corsican identity and language. Enditem