Paris (AFP)

The right shouted victory Sunday evening of the second round of regional and departmental elections while the National Rally minimized its defeat, citing a "failure of democracy" because of the new record abstention recorded in the polling stations.

"The National Front was stopped and we made it strongly retreat", rejoiced the outgoing president of Hauts-de-France Xavier Bertrand (ex-LR), re-elected against his rival of RN Sébastien Chenu.

"It's a collapse for the National Front," added the president of the Les Républicains (LR) party Christian Jacob on France 2. "For 18 months and our failure in the Europeans, we have not stopped finding the French and they found us in the different communities ".

"We have largely won the municipal elections, we have won the senatorial, partial legislative, departmental, regional: today we are clearly the only force for alternation", he added,

Criticizing "a disastrous and erratic organization of the polls by the Ministry of the Interior", the president of RN Marine Le Pen took note of the defeat of her party, especially in the Paca region.

"This historic civic disaffection constitutes a major signal sent to the entire political class and even to the whole of society", she added during a statement at the headquarters of the RN in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine), evoking " a deep crisis of local democracy ".

In the ranks of the presidential majority, the general delegate of LREM, Stanislas Guerini, for his part admitted, on BFMTV, that the first results of the ballot were a "disappointment".

However, it is "a satisfaction" that the National Rally has declined, added government spokesman Gabriel Attal on France 2.

On the left, the leader of rebellious France (LFI) Jean-Luc Mélenchon also expressed his satisfaction and his "relief" at the "heavy defeat suffered by the RN", in the Paca region and "his joy" against the "magnificent result" obtained in Reunion by Huguette Bello "who knew how to reach out to the Communists and the Socialists to obtain the final victory".

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"There are in fact two blocks which emerge strengthened from these elections: there is the right-wing block undoubtedly, but there is also the green and left block and we are basically around 34-35%", underlined of his side the MEP EELV Yannick Jadot on TF1.

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