Marine Le Pen's party loses in the regional elections, but could win one of the regions for the first time.
As the last nationwide decision before the presidential election in 2022, the vote is also considered a mood.
Paris (AP) - The French right wing party of Marine Le Pen has suffered significant losses in the first round of the regional elections.
The Rassemblement National (RN / formerly: Front National) landed on Sunday with about 19 percent of the votes only in second place, as the French TV station France 2 reported, citing initial projections.
The strongest force was therefore the bourgeois-conservative camp with a good 27 percent of the vote.
In the previous regional elections in December 2015, Le Pen's party emerged victorious in the first round and received 27.7 percent of the vote.
In the second round, however, they failed to win one of the French regions for themselves.
This time the party sees opportunities in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region for the first time in a majority in a region.
RN boss Le Pen blamed the extremely low turnout for the performance and spoke of a "civic disaster".
According to projections, the traditional People's Party of Socialists and Partners made it to around 18 percent of the vote.
Together with civil rights, they currently represent the regional president in most regions.
The green camp got around 13 percent and was ahead of the party of French leader Emmanuel Macron LREM.
Together with liberal allies, some of whom are better anchored in the country, the party came in at around 11 percent, falling behind in fifth place.
With an estimated 31 to 34 percent, voter turnout is likely to have reached a historic low.
The lowest voter turnout in a first round of regional elections was 46.3 percent in 2010.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin called the participation on Twitter worrying.
As the last nationwide decision before the presidential elections in April and May, the regional and departmental elections also serve as a test of mood. A relatively strong performance by Le Pen in the presidential elections is likely. Because of the very different competencies of the central government and the regions, the result is only of limited significance with regard to Macron's support among the population. While observers recently predicted a duel between Macron and Le Pen in the presidential election campaign, Brice Teinturier, director general of the polling institute Ipsos, saw her parties as losers in the regional elections.
The head of the Republicans, Christian Jacob, said on TF 1 that his party got the most votes. The national projections, however, were based on the bourgeois-conservative camp, to which several parties belong. Jacob also attacked the government for organizing the elections. "There has never been such a mess." According to media reports, some polling stations in Marseille remained closed on the morning of election day. There should previously have been problems with election workers. In the north of the country, voting papers are said to have been missing from an election office.
With the elections, among other things, the regional councils are to be filled.
France's regions have important competencies in the areas of public transport, education and economic development, but also in the social and cultural sector.
In centralized France, however, their influence is limited compared to the German federal states.
The regional elections in France are held in two rounds in quick succession.
Only if a political force wins an absolute majority straight away does the second vote in the area not take place.
The second round is scheduled for June 27th.
Until then, parties can forge new alliances to unite more votes.
The elections on the mainland and overseas were originally scheduled for March, but have been postponed due to the corona pandemic.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210620-99-67053 / 8
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A voter casts her vote in Marseille.
© Daniel Cole
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President Emmanuel Macron elects in the seaside resort Le Touquet-Paris-Plage.
© Christian Hartmann
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Voters in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.
© Ludovic Marin
