Sarkozy's right-wing UMP facing election defeat

FE Team | Published: March 16, 2010 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party appears to be heading for defeat in French regional elections, reports BBC.
Initial results suggest the opposition Socialist party has taken a strong lead in the first round of voting.
The outcome will be a major blow for Mr Sarkozy in the last nationwide poll before presidential and parliamentary elections due in 2012.
The far-right National Front looks to have done better than expected, with up to 12 per cent of the vote.
Sunday's election took place with President Sarkozy's popularity rating at an all-time low and unemployment at 10 per cent.
The French leader had sought to play down the importance of the vote, insisting it was only about regional issues.
But many voters used it to signal their disapproval of the president and his government, says the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby, in Paris.
As well as the fallout from the economic crisis, a range of unpopular planned reforms appear to have cost the governing party.
Turnout for the ballot was also poor. The abstention rate was put at some 52 per cent, a record for a regional election.