In France the first round of elections for the 26 regional councils were held on Sunday. The second round is next Sunday.

Elections are held separately in each region. So, often, the contests are somewhat local. However, collectively they still have national importance. Le Monde reports the aggregate results.

Legend:
PS – Socialist party
UMP – Union for a Popular majority (President Sarkozy’s party)
EE – Greens
FN – National Front (extreme-right)
FDG – Communists
MoD – Modem (centrists)
NPA – New Anticapitalist Party
LO – Workers’ Struggle (trotskyite)

So, the Socialists topped the poll nationally, which was better than some predictions. However, it was hardly a runaway victory, given President Sarkozy is so unpopular. The National Front did somewhat better than expected. The votes of the extreme-left were again significant, but spread across a number of different parties. The Greens did well, but did not break through. The turnout was the second lowest ever for a national election.

In terms of the regions, France Politique provides a nice list of results.

From left to right (literally), the parties reported are: Workers’ Struggle, New Anticapitalist Party, Communists, Socialists, Greens, Independent ecologists, Modem, UMP, National Front.

The figures in bold indicate parties (or alliances) that have qualified for the second round. However, the chances are that the Socialists and the Greens will ally in most cases. This means that the left vote will be united against the moderate and extreme-right. This is why the left will win most of the regions at the second ballot.

The last elections were in 2004. Currently, the left holds 20 of the 22 regions of so-called metropolitan France. So, even a good performance by the left will not lead to many, if any, gains.