Exit polls indicate French far right defeated in regional elections

PARIS — Polling agency estimations indicate that mainstream candidates have delivered a stinging setback to France’s far right in regional elections today, thwarting its hopes of winning control of a region for the first time.

The Ifop polling agency estimates that the far right National Rally barely surpassed 20 percent of the vote nationally, trailing both the mainstream right and the combined weight of green and leftist candidates.

Polling agency estimates also suggest that the National Rally was roundly beaten in the southeast, in the region that had been seen as its best chance of securing a breakthrough victory in the regional balloting.

If confirmed by official results, the National Rally’s failure to win any of mainland France’s 12 regions threatens to slow the momentum of its candidate, Marine Le Pen, in her campaign for the presidential elections next year.