Sarkozy's party faces stern test in second round of regional polls

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AFP - President Nicolas Sarkozy was facing a rebuke from French voters on Sunday in round two of regional elections that are his last big national test before he seeks re-election in 2012.

Polling stations were to stay open until 8:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) in most areas of the country -- and partial results and exit polls to be released to media immediately afterwards should make the result clear.

By 5.00pm (1600 GMT), 43.47 percent of France's 43.35 million voters had cast their ballot, 3.18 percent more than had done so by that time last week, when the vote was marked by a record 53.6 percent abstention rate.

Last week's first-round vote, while marked by a low turnout, saw the French leader's right-wing supporters win their lowest share of the vote in more than three decades and threatened to wipe them out in regional government.

The slightly higher second round turn-out might help Sarkozy if it represents a remobilisation of his demoralised forces, but in previous French regional elections final results have closely mirrored first round tallies.

France 24's Owen Fairclough is @ UMP HQ

Sarkozy, whose UMP party still has a comfortable majority in the national parliament, has insisted that the regional poll is not a verdict on central government, but he is expected to order a reshuffle in the next few days.

One report, in the pro-government daily Le Figaro, suggested Prime Minister Francois Fillon would offer his government's resignation on Monday but that Sarkozy would ask him to form a new, slightly modified cabinet.

"Whatever happens, there won't be a big shake up. It will be a modest, technical reshuffle, because some adjustments are worth doing," Sarkozy's chief adviser Claude Gueant told the Catholic newspaper La Croix.

But he added: "There could be some political content amid the 'technical'."

The new ministerial line-up may offer clues as to whether Sarkozy plans to slow down or alter his reform programme. He has spoken of a possible "pause" once he raises the retirement age and reforms some state sector pensions.

"Many of the political strategies of the coming years will be based on this, the last election" before the presidential vote in 2012, said Pascal Perrineau of the elite Sciences-Po school in Paris.

"If the left takes all the regions, the president will be obliged to think of a political response," Perrineau told AFP, explaining that last week many of Sarkozy's working class supporters had abstained or voted far-right.

"He has to reconnect with a part of the popular vote that supported him in 2007. He has to send them signals on unemployment and on the cost of living for the working class."

Meanwhile, the Socialists have called on supporters to turn out in greater numbers to secure their regional bastions and begin a fight back that could see their divided party mount a credible challenge in 2012.

Regional councils in 25 regions -- 22 on the French mainland and three overseas territories -- are up for grabs, the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe having already been won outright by the Socialists in the first round.

The left already controls 20 regions in continental France, and could even wipe Sarkozy's UMP off the map if it wins close run races in right-wing hold-outs Alsace and Corsica.

In March 14's first round, Sarkozy's party trailed the Socialists with 26.3 to 29.5 percent of the national vote.

The left-leaning greens of Europe Ecologie scored 12.5 percent and then struck regional electoral pacts with the Socialists for the second round, boosting their joint score well ahead of that of the mainstream right.

Meanwhile, the far-right National Front, led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, did well enough to stay in the race in 12 mainland regions, meaning much of its 11 percent of the vote will remain outside Sarkozy's reach.

A united Left for French regional poll By Nicholas RUSHWORTH