Polls: Heavy blow for Sarkozy in regional vote

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120796§ionid=351020603


Opinion polls suggest heavy losses for French President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling party in France's March 14 regional elections.

French citizens go to the polls on Sunday in order to decide the governments for 26 regions in metropolitan France and the overseas territories.

However, a recent poll conducted by the TNS Sofres polling institute put the opposition socialists ahead of Sarkozy's UMP by 2.5 percent.

The latest regional ballot has also been overshadowed by the country's 10 percent unemployment rate and growing financial constraints which polls say would undermine Sarkozy's rightist UMP party as leftists controlling 20 of the 22 mainland regions are gaining momentum ahead of 2012 presidential election, Reuters reported.

Sarkozy's approval ratings have dropped markedly since his election in 2007 and analysts predict a failure for his 2012 reelection bid.

"The balance of power is extremely favorable for the left," AFP quoted Frederic Dabi, another pollster at the IFOP polling agency, as saying.

Meanwhile, French daily newspaper Liberation described the two-round regional elections due March 14 and 21 as "the last vote before the presidential election in 2012, [which] can change the political landscape."