French voters humiliate ‘arrogant’ Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy suffered electoral wipe-out today as a majority of voters said it was about time he started acting more like a president.

His ruling Right-wing Union for a Popular Movement was set to lose all but one of the 22 contested areas in crucial regional elections.

As polling stations closed last night, exit polls gave the Socialists and Greens about 54 per cent of the vote, Mr Sarkozy's Right-wing UMP 36 per cent and the far-Right National Front just under nine.

Heaping further humiliation on Mr Sarkozy, a poll in today's Le Parisien newspaper revealed that 54 per cent of people think he should adopt "a more presidential style". He is regularly criticised for being arrogant.

Unemployment in France is more than 10 per cent, and millions are due to take to the streets tomorrow to protest against what they view as failed financial policies.

The regional elections were seen as a test of Mr Sarkozy's popularity at the half-way point of his presidency. He said the poll only had "regional ramifications" but Martine Aubry, the Socialist leader, said: The French have expressed their rejection of the policies of the president and the government."