In the first elections since the Paris attacks that killed 130 people, France's far-right National Front (FN) has made impressive gains in the regional elections.
Led by Marine Le Pen, the party was leading across the nation, followed by former President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative Les Republicains party and President Francois Hollande's ruling Socialist party, reports the BBC.
The final results will become clear after the second round of voting, scheduled for Dec. 13. All parties which poll more than 10 percent of the vote can participate in the second round, according to CNN.
Le Pen said it was a "magnificent" result with the FN being "the only party that can reconquer the lost territories of the republic, of Calais, where we won 50 percent of the votes, or of the suburbs." The National Front "is the only party to defend an authentically French republic" and was dedicated to "the preservation of our way of life," said Le Pen, according to the New York Times.
"The dynamic in favor of the National Front is not a superficial reaction of the French electorate in a situation of crisis after the attack. It is something more long lasting in the French political system," said Bruno Cautrès, a political analyst and public opinion specialist at the Center for Political Research at Sciences Po, according to The New York Times.
The outcome of these elections will be a trendsetter for the 2017 presidential elections.