Voters register discontent with French govt

France’s Prime Minister says he has heard the message from voters who showered support on the opposition left and reinforced the far right in the first round of regional elections.

Jean-Pierre Raffarin’s conservatives suffered a searing rebuke as Socialists, Communists and other leftist parties took some 40% of the national vote yesterday – nearly six percentage points higher than the right, according to Interior Ministry results from 23 of France’s 26 regions.