国际英语新闻：Regional defeat rings alarm, not death bell for France's ruling right

PARIS, March 21 (Xinhua) -- France's regional election ended Sunday night, with initial results showing the ruling UMP party has lost all but one of 22 regions to the left wing in metropolitan France.

The result was widely considered a loud alarm of public rejection of the current central administration.

The Socialist-led left-wing hailed the victory "uNPRecedented," but it is still hard to tell to what extent the left unity can use the strong local base to bring out a credible candidate to challenge the ruling right in the 2012 presidential vote.

DEFEAT -- REFLECTION OF PUBLIC DISAPPOINTMENT

During the last poll before the presidential election, left-wing parties have won 54.3 percent of the vote, against 36.1 percent for the ruling UMP party and 8.7 percent for the far-right National Front, according to OpinionWay polling institute.

The Greens party, known as Europe Ecologie, garnered 12.18 percent of votes in the first round, taking a third place 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.

Public disappointment with the ruling party was understandable as the country's unemployment rate hit 10 percent, the highest in a decade, and the public deficit was expected to reach 8.2 percent of GDP in 2010.

As Stephane Rozes, a political analyst, told France 24 TV Station in a recent interview that the current economic difficulties challenging the ruling party played into the hands of the left wing, which was considered better at addressing local needs.

REFORM OR NO REFORM, QUESTIONS FOR SARKOZY

Ambitious on pushing forward national reforms on retirement, education and carbon tax, President Nicolas Sarkozy is facing increasing obstacles and declining approval rate.

Weeks before the election, he announced a pause in his reform plan in 2011. Days before the election, he ruled out a large-scale cabinet reshuffle.

However, as the runoff went on, it is hard for the ruling party to ignore the historical low turnout rate and great power of the opposition.