PARIS -- In the second round of France's regional election, the center-right UMP party consolidated last Sunday's gain.
Exit polls placed UMP at first place with 37 percent of the votes, challenging the surging anti-Europe party the National Front(FN) and claiming sweeping win in many departments once held by the left.
According to ifop poll, the governing Socialist party and allies collected 35 percent of the votes, followed by the FN whose candidates reported the support of 28 percent of about 4 million voters in the second round.
The conservative UMP won 68 of 102 departments compared to the41 they held previously, said the the country's pollsters.
Voters in up to 37 departments voted for the Socialists, while the far-rightists who eye to become more mainstream, seized the lead in two departments. They had none in the 2011 elections.
With the large victory in regional runoff providing an impetus to his political comeback, ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy announced"a new phase" for France.
"Never under the Fifth Republic, our political family had won so many departments. The French people have massively rejected the policies of Francois Hollande and his government," Sarkozy said.
Shortly after the results' release, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said hearing the voters' "message of anger and fatigue."
"This is a sign of a lasting upheaval of our political landscape and we will all need to draw lessons from it," Valls said, pledging to energize efforts to tackle economic troubles, mainly unemployment.
"Our economy is getting better. Thanks to the reforms we implemented, the first signs of recovery are there, but they are still not discernible," he added. Enditem
