FRENCH FAR-RIGHT PARTY LOSES SUPPORT IN REGIONAL ELECTION

The French far-right party of Marine Le Pen has suffered a significant setback in the first round of regional elections, in what could be a bellwether for the presidential poll next spring, Rachel Bossmeyer reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

The National Rally (RN) fell short of pollster predictions and came second on Sunday with about 19 percent of the vote, according to projections from French TV station France 2, which put the conservative camp as the strongest party with 28 percent.

This marks a significant drop for Le Pen's party from December 2015, when it won the first round of regional elections with 27.7 percent of the vote, before failing to win one of the French regions in the second round.

RN leader Le Pen blamed the extremely low turnout for the result and spoke of a "civic disaster."

And yet the party still has a chance of gaining a majority in one region for the first time - the Provence-Alpes-Cote-d'Azur area.

The traditional People's Party of the Socialists and partners managed to get around 16 percent of the vote, according to projections. Together with the conservatives, they currently hold the regional presidency in most regions.

The Green camp won about 13 percent, ahead of the party of French President Emmanuel Macron, LREM.

Together with its liberal allies, some of whom are better anchored in the country, the party came in at around 11 percent, putting it in a distant fifth place.

Voter turnout is estimated to have reached a historic low of 31 to 34 percent. The lowest turnout in the first round of regional elections before Sunday was 46.3 percent in 2010.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Twitter the turnout numbers were worrying. As the last nationwide vote this year, Sunday's polls have widely been seen as a forecast of the presidential elections next April and May.

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