Socialists triumph in regional vote

THE SOCIALIST party has come top in the first round of the French regional elections, in a vote that was marked by a high abstention rate of about 54%.

The PS received 29.48% of votes nationwide, ahead of the UMP on 26.18%. Green party Europe Ecologie came third on 12.47%.

Jean-Marie Le Pen's far-right Front National averaged 11.74%, gaining its best result, 20.9% in the Paca region.

PS leader Martine Aubry said last December that her party could win every French region. She said the party now had a "duty to bring together the left" and form alliances with smaller groups ahead of the second round of voting this coming Sunday.

She said the party had "found its confidence again" after a crushing defeat in the European elections last June, when it scored 16.48%.

Former presidential candidate Ségolène Royal helped the Socialist Party to a score of 38.9% in her region, Poitou-Charentes.

The only big defeat for the PS was in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, where it scored just 7% - beaten by a coalition of other left-wing parties led by the region's president Georges Frêch.

The UMP came top in the Ile-de-France and most of the centre and east of the country.

Prime Minister François Fillon called on more voters to turn out in the second stage, adding: "The game is not over."

Government spokesman Luc Chatel added: "We are at the half-time stage in the match."

Only parties with 10% or more can go through to the second round of voting. Those with between 5-10% are allowed to merge their candidates with those on the lists of other more successful parties.

Calls have already come for the resignation of centrist (Modem) party leader François Bayrou to resign after his party received just 4% of the vote.