PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday faced a regional vote that opinion polls suggested would mean heavy losses for his center-right UMP party in the last ballot box test before he comes up for re-election in 2012. Unemployment in France is running at more than 10 per cent, public finances are under growing strain and a series of controversies over issues ranging from lavish executive pay to immigration and security have undermined Sarkozy's popularity. "Rarely has a regional election been so national," the left-wing daily Liberation declared in an editorial on Saturday. "The last vote before the presidential election in 2012. It can change the political landscape." Voting got under way at 8.00 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Sunday and the last polls close in major cities at 8.00 p.m. (1900 GMT), with an initial first round result due later in the evening. Sarkozy has said the election will be about local issues and he has ruled out a major reshuffle if the results are as bad as expected, but he said last week that he would be "attentive" to what voters say and some cabinet changes are possible. According to a survey published on Friday by the TNS Sofres polling institute, the opposition Socialists had 31.5 per cent support going into the first round of the election, compared with 29 per cent for the UMP. Sunday's vote will be followed by a second round on March 21, when the top two parties in each of the 26 regions will face each other in a decisive runoff. The Socialists should pick up second round votes from the Greens and various far-left parties which outweigh the far-right National Front and a small centrist party where support may go to the UMP. Only in the eastern region of Alsace does the UMP look like winning.
