France voted on Sunday in the final round of local elections that look set to inflict heavy losses to President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing party as the left vies for control of the top four cities.
  
The elections are the first major test of Sarkozy's popularity since he took office 10 months ago on a platform that called for sweeping economic and social reforms.
  
Turnout at midday was slightly higher than in the first round of voting, with some 23.68 percent of voters casting ballots compared to 20.21 percent last Sunday, according to the interior ministry.
  
In round one, the Socialists won re-election in the third city of Lyon and were on course for a decisive victory in Paris, consolidating their hold on two cities taken from the right in 2001.
  
But the second city of Marseille was shaping up as the big prize, with the incumbent right-wing mayor locked in a tight race against a Socialist who has allied with a centrist candidate.
  
Another citadel of the right, Toulouse in the southwest could fall to the left after 37 years of right-wing administration in France's fourth largest city and home to aeronautics giant Airbus.
  
Strasbourg in the east is also set to swing left after Socialists called on voters to "punish" Sarkozy and his government at the ballot box on Sunday.
  
Tumbling in the opinion polls, Sarkozy has signalled that the election results will lead to some adjustments and aides have said a change in style was in store for the president.
  
"The people will have spoken. I will naturally take into account what they expressed," said Sarkozy last week during a trip to the Mediterranean city of Toulon.
  
In the lead up to the vote, Sarkozy has kept a low profile as he battled to halt a freefall in opinion polls since January that has seen him lose some 30 points. Fewer than four in 10 voters now approve of his performance.
  
Pollsters attribute the drop to pessimism about the economy coupled with perceptions that the president is distracted by his personal life, after his divorce from second wife Cecilia and marriage to model-turned-singer Carla Bruni.
  
Aides have suggested an image makeover was in order to rekindle voter approval of the 53-year-old president, criticised for a brash and at times extravagant style that earned him the nickname "the Bling-Bling president."
  
Elysee sources have said Sarkozy would now cultivate a more "presidential image," by for example banning photos of his daily jogs in a t-shirt and dark aviator sunglasses.
  
As part of a shakeup, presidential spokesman David Martinon will be replaced and three, possibly four, new junior ministers could be appointed this week, Elysee sources said.
  
Sarkozy's allies have rejected suggestions that the results were a rebuke of the government's policies, pointing to the rare first-round election of 14 of the 24 ministers running for local office.
  
Socialist Segolene Royal, who lost to Sarkozy in the May presidential polls, has said first-round results amounted to a "vote of censure" and called for a large turnout for Sunday.
  
But victory for the Socialists would do little to resolve the problems facing the opposition party as it heads toward a key leadership contest expected later this year.
  
A big win for Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe on Sunday could help him strengthen his hand against Royal in the party leadership race.
  
Polls opened at 0700 GMT and were to close at 1700 GMT, except in Paris and major cities where they will remain open for an extra hour or two.