France's far right performed worse than predicted in Sunday's regional elections, exit polls showed, leaving victory in the southern battleground of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur and a platform for the 2022 presidential election in the balance.
Flora Bradley-Watson reports.
France's regional elections failed to give Marine Le Pen's far-right party the boost she was hoping for.
An IPSOS exit poll from Sunday's vote shows a win for France's mainstream conservatives who got 27% of the vote.
Le Pen's National Rally got 19% - a drop of more than 7 percentage points nationwide compared to the last election in 2015.
French President Emmanual Macron's ruling party did as badly as expected revealing the extent to which they have failed to plant roots locally.
His party came in fifth with 11% of the vote and is not expected to win any region outright.
Macron's party spokesperson called the results a 'slap in the face.'
France's presidential elections are less than a year away and this vote was seen as an indication of what's to come.
Le Pen had hoped a strong showing would bolster her credentials as a leader fit for power.
She had sought to capitalise on a rebrand that saw her ditch promises of a so called "Frexit" and inflammatory rhetoric.
But it was only in Provence that her candidate finished first and by a much smaller margin than expected, exit polls show.
Her party has never before controlled one of France's 13 regional councils and she blamed this latest setback on the low turnout.
An estimated 68 percent of voters shunned the polling stations on what was a sunny day.
The second round run-offs take place next Sunday.
By Hamzeh Hadad
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