In a complete reversal of fortunes from last week's regional election first round when France's anti immigration, far-right National Front came out on top, exit polls on Sunday showed the party could not win any French region, dpa reported. French broadcaster BFMTV cited the findings of pollsters OpinionWay and B2S that showed Socialist and Republican candidates ahead in all regions in Sunday's run-off vote, despite the National Front previously leading in six of 17 regions. The National Front topped the polls nationwide after winning 27.7 per cent of the vote on December 6 against President Francois Hollande's Socialist party, which garnered 23.1 per cent, and Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative Republicans, with 26.7 per cent. The losing parties had mobilized their supporters following the National Front's success in the first round. The Socialists also withdrew several candidates from the run-off. The strategy ceded victory to the rival Republicans, but it also blocked the National Front from splitting the vote of the two major parties.
