France's ruling Socialist Party suffered heavy losses in municipal elections Sunday as the extreme-right National Front claimed control of at least two mid-sized towns.
As ballots closed, the National front (FN), led by Marine Le Pen, said it was on track to claim 1,200 municipal council seats nationwide in what one prominent activist described as the biggest electoral success in the party's history.
Exit polls indicated that candidates backed by Le Pen's party had secured the mayor's seat in the southern towns of Beziers and Frejus, but missed out on key targets elsewhere.
"We have moved onto a new level," Marine Le Pen said. "There is now a third major political force in our country."
After the first round of voting last week, the umbrella representative group of French Jewish organizations, CRIF, had called voters to block both the extreme-left and extreme-right which, it said, ''promote ideas contrary to the Republican values.''
The historic city of Avignon, where the FN had headed the first round vote, remained under left-wing control and Le Pen's party also failed to win the northeastern town of Forbach, which had been one of its top objectives.
The centre-right opposition UMP also claimed to have had a successful night, describing itself as the principal victor in the first electoral test for President Francois Hollande's government since his 2012 election.
"We have had a very severe warning," acknowledged Segolene Royal, Hollande's former partner who is tipped for a return to government in the reshuffle that is expected to follow in the wake of Sunday's electoral debacle.
In Paris, Socialist frontrunner Anne Hidalgo won the battle against rival Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet from the UMP party.
Following the bad electoral results, President Hollande is expected to announce a cabinet reshuffle this week, possibly as early as Monday, with any shakeup likely to see the Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, being shown the door, replaced by either Laurent Fabius, the Foreign Minister, or the Interior Minister, Manuel Valls.