Poor them.
(The results aren't still official)
(The results aren't still official)
French socialists take a beating in local elections - The LocalInitial results for France's local elections on Sunday confirmed pre-vote forecasts that France's ruling socialists would lose out to the right. Although the far right National Front achieved a boost it was unsure whether the party had taken control of any councils.
The ruling Socialists suffered a major blow in France's run-off local polls on Sunday as the centre-right alliance of former president Nicolas Sarkozy won a sizeable victory.
Early results indicated Sarkozy's coalition had taken between 64 and 70 councils, while combined left-wing parties took between 27 and 37, according to projections from Ipsos and CSA polling firms.
France's far-right National Front (FN) won a sizeable number of seats in Sunday's run-off elections, but it was not clear if it had won full control of any councils, according to pollster projections.
The FN of Marine Le Pen won between zero and two local councils in the polls, according to projections based on early counting by Ipsos and CSA polling firms.
Although Le Pen's party didn't quite do as well as many polls had predicted, the results still represented an historic success for the National Front.
Marine Le Pen herself hailed the "exceptional" support for the FN, adding that her party was "becoming a powerful political force in numerous regions." She blasted the Socialists for the "bitter campagne" that they led.
The vote was seen as a key test of the French political landscape only two years ahead of presidential elections.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls acknowledged that the leftist Socialists had suffered a "setback" in the elections and stressed that the FN's score was "far too high."
Valls vowed to "redouble" the government's efforts to pep up the French economy, the second biggest in the eurozone.
In a symbolic blow to the Socialists the département of Corrèze, President François Hollande's heartland was won by the right.
Former president Nicolas Sarkozy leader of France's centre right coalition UMP party hailed the victory of his party.
"Tonight the Republican right and the centre have clearly won these départmental elections. Never before in the fifth Republic has our political family achieved such a result.
"Through this vote the French public have massively rejected the policies of François Hollande and his government.
Around half the electorate took part in Sunday's vote for "departmental" governments that manage school and welfare budgets.
Despite the widespread thirst for change, the Socialists did better than expected in the first round, taking 21.8 percent of the vote.
But they were cleaned out in the second round, losing around half of the 61 councils they previously held.
