The first round of the local elections points out that French Front de Gauche has reached the goal set of a two-digit score. French communist Party and Left Party candidates, which were indistinctly under the left common Front, got a total of 815 142 votes which means 10, 38%. The left Front is now the 4th political force in the country and the 2nd force of the left.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP lost ground in the elections. It got only 16 percent of the vote and the FN received between 15 and 17 percent, up from 12 percent in 2010's regional elections. The Socialist Party captured the most overall votes on Sunday with about 25 percent.

The turnout for local elections was low by French standards, with about 45 percent of eligible voters casting ballots. "The results of the first round of the local elections confirm that our country is facing a very serious political and democratic crisis. The historically low level of participation marks the distrust of the millions of voters in a political life in which they do not recognize themselves more. The gap between popular emergencies to the damage of the capitalist crisis and the nature and the level of responses becomes unbearable. The abstention is the resonant sanction", Pierre Laurent, EL President and FCP secretary General declared.

"I call this evening all the forces left to gather behind the left candidates to beat the right and the extreme right and strengthen the majorities of left on March 27 in order to implement policies that will meet the interests of the people", the EL President added.

The local elections are often seen as a general measure of each party's force in advance of next year's presidential and parliamentary elections.