France’s far-right National Front (FN) failed to win a single region in elections despite record results, as voters flocked to traditional parties to keep them out of power.
With presidential elections due in 2017, the anti-immigration FN had hoped the regional polls would act as a springboard for leader Marine le Pen.
But despite a best-ever national vote tally for the FN, she was trounced by the right-wing Opposition in the northern Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie region after the ruling Socialists pulled out of the race before the second round.
Her 26-year-old niece Marion Marechal-le Pen was also clearly defeated by the right-wing grouping in the southern region.