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Regional poll tests appeal of France's far-right

Casting his vote in northern France on Sunday (June 20), Emmanuel Macron is facing a major test.

As voters take to the polls in regional elections set to gauge the appeal of rival far-right leader Marine Le Pen's softened image.

Sunday's first round is likely to prove dire for Macron, whose La Republique en Marche party is projected to win none of mainland France's 13 regions.

Le Pen is hoping to capitalise on a rebrand that has seen her ditch promises of a so called "Frexit" and inflammatory rhetoric.

The best chance for her party is in the south of France, in the region around Marseille and Nice, where one of Le Pen's lieutenants, is projected by one opinion poll as winning the race even if all parties rally against him.

Gaining one region, for the first time ever, would give Le Pen a major boost less than a year before presidential elections.

Participation at midday, however, was one of the lowest for a French election in history at just 12.2%, down from 16.3% in 2015.

Brice Teinturier, director of polling firm IPSOS ,says for many French people, the elections are not a high priority.

"We are in a context of recovering from a pandemic, where French people are being more optimistic about the future, with the idea that the economic situation will improve. So they're thinking of everything else but the regional elections. And secondly, a more serious reason for abstention is that more and more voters think these intermediary elections, like the European elections, do not change anything in their daily life. And as opposed to the municipal or presidential elections, they don't see the point of getting up to vote."

Second round voting will continue on June 27.