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The classic French right, estranged from power for more than a decade and divided by leadership struggles, has clearly defeated the extreme right of Marine Le Pen in the first round of regional elections this Sunday, according to the first estimates .
The victory of Los Republicanos (LR) against Le Pen's National Regrouping (RN) is the great surprise of an electoral day marked by a record abstention.
The right, under the label of LR or with independent candidates, prevails with a wide advantage in regions such as Hauts de France and Auvergne-Rhône-Alps.
It is even close to being the most voted in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur against the extreme right, which started as the undisputed favorite, and can now win in the second round.
Republicans are the most voted force in France and get around 29% of the vote.
According to a survey at the closure of the schools of the Ipsos institute, the traditional right has obtained 29% of votes in France as a whole, compared to 18.5% of the RN, well below the 27.7% it had in the previous regional elections in 2015, when it was the most voted party.
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The French regional elections are planned as a dress rehearsal before the 2022 presidential elections
Mass abstention marks regional elections in France
On Sunday 27 will be held the second round of the regional and departmental, which coincide on the same days, and things could change.
But with the results of the first round, it is clear, first, that the traditional parties that have dominated France in recent decades are resisting in the territories.
In addition to LR, the Socialist Party (PS) also defends its quotas of power in the regional ones.
The second lesson of these elections is that the victory of several right-wing barons with presidential ambitions - Xavier Bertrand in Hautes de Francia or Laurent Wauquiez in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes - represents a challenge to Emmanuel Macron, in view of the presidential elections of 2022 The only rival of Macron, whose party, The Republic on the Move (LREM) obtains mediocre results, is no longer Le Pen, possibly weakened after the regional elections, but also the same old right, that of Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac .
