The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Paris

Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing party suffered losses in French local elections Sunday, poll projections showed, in what the opposition Socialists called a "punishment vote" for the reforming president. The vote, the first major test of Sarkozy's popularity since he defeated the Socialist Segelone Royal last May, was seen as a referendum on the achievements of a president whose opinion poll ratings have plummeted. The Socialists won cities across the country including Strasbourg, Toulouse and the right-wing bastions of Amiens, Caen and Reims after the final round of the vote, projections by Ipsos-Dell and TNS Sofres said. The left was already guaranteed Paris and the third biggest city Lyon after last weekend's first round. But projections showed that the right would hang on to the symbolic prize of the second city of Marseille in the south. Segolene Royal said the results were a "punishment vote" and called on the government to change its policies.