The center-right alliance, led by former president Nicolas Sarkozy, has won a sweeping majority at the local councils elections, in a set back for ruling Socialists and far right National Front.

According to Anadolu Agency, Polls by French firm CSA show that Sarkozy’s right-wing UMP party and its allies conquered over 66 to 70 out of the 98 local departments while President Francois Hollande’s Socialist Party took up to 35, losing half of those 61 it held before the elections.

“This result goes beyond local considerations. The French have massively rejected the policies of Francois Hollande and his government,” said Sarkozy at his UMP party headquarters shortly after polls closed.

“The time for change is now,” he added.

The far right’s National Front failed to win a single council despite historically high scores at the local level.

Party leader Marine Le Pen called the results “the foundations for the big victories of tomorrow,” adding that her party was “becoming a powerful political force in numerous regions.”

“The goal is near, reaching power and applying our ideas to redress France,” she said.

Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls admitted the defeat of his party saying that the National Front’s gains in the local elections were “a sign of lasting upheaval in the French political landscape.”

“The far right’s strong, much too strong, results are a challenge to all democrats,” he said. “This is a sign of a lasting upheaval of our political landscape and we will all need to draw lessons from it,” he said.

Valls vowed that his government would introduce new measures aimed at boosting employment and public and private investment.

The turnout of voters, to choose 4,108 local council members across the country for the 98 departments, was at 50 per cent according to the interior ministry.

[adrotate group=”9″]