国际英语新闻：Ruling UMP loses to left-wing amid high abstention in France's regional election

The Greens party, known as Europe Ecologie, garnered 12.18 percent of votes in the first round, taking the third rank only after the leading Socialist and ruling UMP.

As the emerging political power promoted by last year's European election, the Greens has agreed to ally with the Socialist in the second round but aims for a bigger role at the future stage.

Compared with the last regional election six years ago, much more voters preferred staying at home than showing their power to reshape regional councilors.

Latest data presented that the participation rate reached 50.5 percent in the runoff, higher than the historical low of 46 percent in the first round but still well below the record-high 65 percent in the 2004 regional election.

 

A young girl offers a flower to France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (C) and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (L) as they leave a Paris polling station after voting in the second round of regional elections March 21, 2010. Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party is due to face heavy losses in regional elections on Sunday that could affect the pace of reform as manoeuvring begins before the 2012 presidential campaign

This regional election, the last massive one before 2012 presidential election, is widely regarded as a referendum and opinion test for Sarkozy's administration, as it occurred at the mid-term of his presidency and 19 ministers are standing for election.