According to AP, France's Socialist-led left defeated Nicolas Sarkozy's conservatives in the first round of regional elections Sunday, in a new blow to the increasingly unpopular president. Sarkozy's conservative UMP party and others on the right have 39.6 percent. The far right National Front did better than pollsters predicted and had the possibility of coming in third nationwide, with 11.7 percent, closely followed by green-minded party Europe Ecologie with 11 percent, according to the ministry.

 

Many voters blame Sarkozy and the governing conservatives for failing to protect jobs amid France's worst economic downturn since World War II, and for not keeping their promise to make the country prosper in the face of growing global competition.

 

The vote is seen by many as a referendum on Sarkozy's 2 1/2 years in power. Sarkozy's approval ratings down are below 40 percent and voters are fearful over unemployment, which is still rising and factory closures that have prompted strikes and "boss-nappings."

 

France's struggle to integrate its millions of Muslims has also come to the fore in the campaign for 1,880 seats on regional governments in mainland France and in overseas regions from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean. National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen spoke on national television holding up a poster that says "No to Islamism" and saying that his National Front Party is the only one that can overcome the crisis in the country.