The French left is riding high into regional elections Sunday likely to end in a setback for President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservatives, blamed by many voters for failing to protect their jobs amid economic downturn, AP reported. France's struggle to integrate its millions of Muslims has also come to the fore in the campaign for 1,880 seats on regional governments in mainland France and in overseas regions from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean. The opposition Socialists won control of 20 of the 22 regions on mainland France in the last election, in 2004. Sarkozy's conservative UMP party had hoped to win some of those back in this election, but polls suggest the Socialist-led left will win the overwhelming majority of regions. Socialist leader Martine Aubry, whose party long has suffered from division and lack of a new vision, even said she hoped for a «grand slam» _ leftist domination of all the regions. «There is a willingness to sanction the government that isn't doing enough, the minimum to help its citizens during a crisis that is really tragic for a lot of people,» said Charles Comman, a 32-year-old Paris voter. Since Sarkozy's supporters are showing little interest in the campaign, those voters who do cast ballots are likely to do so to express discontent with a president who pledged when he was elected to turn the country into an economic powerhouse. The fallout from France's worst recession since World War II is still pinching industries from car-making to hotels. Joblessness is at its highest level in a decade, over 10 percent. Workers in a number of factories have locked up managers to protest layoffs in recent months, and scattered strikes hit the country this week, from day cares to doctors' offices. Sunday's first round of voting will only give a partial picture of what the regional leadership will look like, ahead of the decisive March 21 runoff. On Sunday, polls predict that candidates from Sarkozy's UMP and the Socialist Party will come in with about 29 percent of the vote each, followed by those from Europe Ecologie, a green-minded party whose popularity has grown amid concern over global warming. In the runoff, however, the Socialists and Europe Ecologie and smaller leftist parties are expected to join forces in some regions to give the left the majority. «Victory ... is at our fingertips,» Europe Ecologie leader Cecile Duflot said at a campaign rally. The far right National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen, now running in what may be his last election, had played that kingmaker role in past elections. Polls predict his party will come in fourth overall. Sarkozy is not on the ballot but is likely to emerge the big loser in this vote. Sarkozy appealed to his conservative base in an interview with Le Figaro Magazine released Thursday, pledging to install more surveillance cameras nationwide and to not raise taxes. Prime Minister Francois Fillon, who has taken a more prominent role in the campaign, raised the issue of national identity at a rally Thursday. He said a law forbidding the full-face Islamic veil would be submitted in the spring. The government launched nationwide debates on what it means to be French in November just as the election campaign was getting into full swing, and it raised questions about how France is integrating its several million-strong Muslim population, western Europe's largest. For most voters, campaign issues are local. In the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, voters are worried about the future of a Total oil refinery that threatened the nation with gas shortages. In the Pays de la Loire region, candidates are campaigning to keep the shipbuilding business afloat. In the Paris region, candidate Chantal Jouanno, the government's junior minister for ecology, suggested introducing a toll for driving in the capital. «It's a regional vote so for someone who I am familiar with, for someone who contributed to better the place I live in,» said Yvette Sazo, a 63-year-old from Nantes in western France. -- SPA
