Dissatisfied French voters deal slap to Sarkozy

With more than 96 per cent of votes counted, the opposition centre-left Socialist Party was frontrunner with around 30 per cent of the vote.

Mr Sarkozy's Gaullist Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) was in second place with around 27 per cent, while Europe Ecologie garnered 12.5 per cent of the vote.

The far-right National Front took 11.5 per cent.

The Left Front, which unites the French Communist Party, the Left Party and smaller groupings, won about six per cent.

Together, candidates from the Socialist Party, Europe Ecology and the Left Front were just shy of 50 per cent of the vote.

Socialist leader Martine Aubry described the result as "encouraging."

In casting their ballots, the French "wanted most of all to express their wish for a more just and stronger France," Ms Aubry said.

The Socialists, who already control 20 of the 22 regions of mainland France, have begun horse-trading with the Greens and the left in a bid to present unified slates of candidates in this Sunday's decisive second round.

The centre-left Socialists and their allies are now on track to score a grand slam on March 21 by winning every one of metropolitan France's 22 regions.

Though the campaign had focused on regional concerns such as roads and local jobs, the vote was seen by many as a referendum on Mr Sarkozy's sweeping pro-business reforms.

Voter turnout was at a record low of about 48 per cent, 10 points lower than in the last regional election six years ago.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon of the UMP insisted that the high abstention rate "does not permit us to draw any conclusions of national relevance" and stressed that "nothing has been decided for the second round."

But political analyst Roland Cayrol said: "The French people want to punish the governing powers.

"Members of the governing right attribute this score to the abstentions but, in reality, the success of the left is indisputable," he added.