France's Socialist Party won about 36 percent of the vote in the second round of departmental council elections, well ahead of President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP on 20 percent and the far-right National Front on 12 percent. Turnout reached only 46 percent of eligible voters.
The result strengthened the left's grip on France's 100 departments, adding to the 58 it already controlled. Party leader Martine Aubry cast the outcome as the opening of the 2012 presidential race, while fellow Socialist François Hollande declared Sarkozy's political era effectively over. Both were considered likely candidates for the Socialist nomination, alongside Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then head of the IMF, whom polls rated the party's strongest potential contender.
The National Front took no new seats but its vote climbed from roughly 620,000 in the first round to more than 900,000 in the second. Marine Le Pen called it a genuine vote of confidence rather than a protest. One poll suggested she could reach the decisive runoff in the 2012 presidential race, eliminating Sarkozy in round one.
A separate survey found that 52 percent of respondents now viewed the FN as a conventional political party, the first time a majority had taken that position. On economic policy, 82 percent rejected the party's proposal to leave the eurozone.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in March 2011, in its own words.