France's far-right National Front appeared to have been defeated by parties of the left and right in local elections on Sunday, according to initial estimates.
The right-wing UMP-UDI alliance took between 29.2 and 32 percent of the vote, while left-wing parties took a total of 23.2 and 32.7 percent, compared with between 24.5 and 26.3 percent for the National Front, according to a range of polling firms.