Right-wing parties, spearheaded by Sarkozy's UMP, yesterday won a thumping victory, taking 66 councils out of a possible 101, according to results compiled by AFP.
Voters punished the Socialist government of President Francois Hollande for failing to revive the slumping economy, with left-wing parties winning only 34 councils. There was still one council result to be declared.
The results mean 25 councils switched from left to right-wing party control with only one going in the opposite direction.
The far-right National Front (FN) of Marine Le Pen, which took a quarter of the vote in the first round last week, was not expected to win any councils -- in part because mainstream voters often combine to keep it out of power in second-round run-offs.
Also Read
But it won dozens of individual seats across the country, leading Le Pen to hail a "magnificent success" that showed it was "a powerful force" in many local areas, building on its victorious showing in last year's European elections.
But the big winner was Sarkozy, who had used an energetic campaign to rebuild his status as a serious contender after he was criticised for being distant, preoccupied and even bored since returning to frontline politics in September.
Sarkozy's decision to ally his right-wing UMP with centrists has been welcomed by voters, who punished him during the 2012 presidential campaign when he shifted further to the right to rival FN.
Meanwhile, the Socialists fear their poor showing in the local "departments", which control issues such as school and welfare budgets, could spell doom in the regional and presidential polls to come.
"The French have declared... Their anger at a daily life that is too difficult," he said, vowing to "redouble" the government's efforts to pep up the French economy, the second biggest in the eurozone.