French conservatives come first in local elections: Poll
France's conservative Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP) and its centrist allies have won the final round of the country’s local elections, an exit poll shows.
The UMP, led by former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, has possibly secured 66 to 70 of the 98 local councils, compared to 41 previously held by the party, according to the BFMTV news channel survey by pollsters CSA released on Sunday.
French President François Hollande's Socialist Party appears to have won up to 35 departments, losing half of the 61 councils it held before the elections, the exit poll suggested.
It also found that the far-right National Front, led by Marine Le Pan, could win up to two councils.
Voters went to polls in Sunday’s elections to choose 4,108 local councilors for 98 out of France’s 101 departments.
The elections are widely seen as a test case ahead of the European country’s 2017 presidential race.
Sarkozy said the exit polls show the French people had “massively rejected” the policies of Hollande and his government.
"Never has our political family won so many councils," he said, adding, "The repudiation of those in power is without question."
Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Manual Valls conceded that it was "incontestable" that the ruling party had lost ground, stating, "The French have declared... their anger at a daily life that is too difficult.”
France, Europe’s second-biggest economy, is grappling with political and economic crises, worsened with Hollande taking power back in May 2012.
The French economy has been stagnant for years with the rate of unemployment hovering around 10 percent.
France’s austerity policies have put its citizens under more financial pressure than ever. Sales taxes and retirement taxes have been raised, while massive cuts to social services have forced households to dip into their own pocket to cover for the government’s absence.
SSM/MHB/AS
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