French voters looked to have given the ruling Socialists a drubbing in run-off local polls today, while boosting the prospects for former president Nicolas Sarkozy and the far-right ahead of 2017 presidential polls.
Right-wing parties, spearheaded by Sarkozy's UMP, took between 64 and 70 councils out of a possible 98, according to projections, as voters punished the socialist government of President Francois Hollande for failing to revive the slumping economy.
Left-wing parties took a beating, taking only between 27 and 37 councils, the projections by the Ipsos and CSA polling firms indicated.
"Never... Has our political family won so many councils," Sarkozy told cheering supporters, adding that voters had "massively rejected the policies of Francois Hollande and his government."
The far-right National Front (FN) of Marine Le Pen, which took a quarter of the vote in the first round last week, won a sizeable number of seats, according to the projections, but it was not certain if it had taken control of any councils
Pollsters said it was set to win between zero and two councils.
It would be the first time the FN has won any "departments", which control issues such as school and welfare budgets.
The party is often blocked from victory in second-round run-offs by tactical voting from mainstream voters, who gang up to keep the FN out of power.
