Socialists take lead in French regional elections by Magdalena Rosova

The first round of regional elections held in France this Sunday brought victory to Socialist-led left. Socialists got more than 50 percent of the vote and defeated Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party. Voter turnout at election was at record low. According to final official results, Socialists gathered 29.48 percent of votes, while UMP ended with only 26.18 percent. European Green had 12.47 percent and National Front just 11.74 percent. The Left Front, a coalition of far left, won only 5.7 percent in the election and the centrist MoDem party hardly reached 4.24 percent. French Ministry of Interior says only 53.65 people participated in the election. It is the record low for a re! gional election. The second round with the leading parties will come on March 21. The final election it will decide who runs 26 regions in France. Martine Aubury, a secretary of Socialist Party, finds results of the election to be great triumph of the party. Aubury further added that her party would try to create as big coalition of left parties as possible. She called voters to attend the second round and confirm the results from Sunday. Former Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal said that voters showed their disagreement with the government of Nicolas Sarkozy. But French Prime Minister Fraçois Fillon does not find the results of the election crucial. According to Fillon, Socialists won just because of the low turnout. Fillon insists that regional elections do not reflect overall opinions of the government and called voters to come and support the president in next election.

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by Magdalena Rosova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

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