Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron have already lost the mood test just under a year before the French presidential election.

Almost 67 percent of those eligible to vote stayed away from the polls in the first regional ballot on Sunday.

The Rassemblement National (RN) suffered significant losses and received 19 percent of the vote nationwide, compared with 28 percent in 2015.

Michaela Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

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    The ruling party La République en marche (LREM) received around ten percent of the vote and can hardly influence the balance of power in the second ballot next Sunday. The chairman of the right-wing party Les Républicains (LR), Christian Jacob, spoke of an "unprecedented defeat" for a ruling party. Le Pen said that due to the extremely low turnout, the election result gave a "false picture" of the political balance of power in the country. In December 2015, the then National Front emerged from the first round as the strongest force in the regional elections.

    The 52-year-old presidential candidate appeared clearly angry in front of the television cameras on election evening. She castigated the "civic disaster" of low voter turnout. “Given the government work that is wreaking havoc on our country, our voters need to react. You have to vote, ”said Le Pen, visibly angry. "If you do not vote for your ideas, then your vote no longer counts," she addressed to her followers. She hopes for an improved turnout in the second round.

    Her words showed disappointment.

    The survey institutes had predicted that their candidates would achieve significant success in six regions.

    In the historic stronghold on the Mediterranean coast alone, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) region, top candidate Thierry Mariani can still hope for a victory.

    With a result of 35.5 percent of the vote, he is just ahead of the incumbent right-wing regional council president Renaud Muselier, who got 33 percent.

    Waiver or exclusion from party

    The candidate of the Left Union (Socialists, Greens and Communists), Jean-Laurent Félizia, scored 15 percent and initially refused to withdraw his candidacy to prevent the extreme right from succeeding. This led to upheavals with party headquarters in Paris on Monday. The green party leader Julien Bayou threatened his party friend Félizia with expulsion from the party if he did not renounce in favor of Museliers. Six years ago, the left-wing parties joined forces with the civil right to stop Le Pen's granddaughter Marion Maréchal. “We can't take the risk of helping Le Pen win,” said Bayou. Félizia then announced on Monday afternoon that she would retire. This increases the Muselier's chances of remaining at the top of the region.