Who are the winners and losers from Frances local elections?
Both Le Pen and Macron emerge from the first round weaker than before | Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images  PARIS  The election was hyped as a test run ahead of next years French presidential race. But in the event the countrys two political heavyweights, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, flopped, with candidates from the mainstream left and right coming out on top amid historic levels of voter apathy. Both Le Pen and Macron emerge from the first round weaker than before. The far-right National Rally (RN) had hoped to win power in at least one region, but may end up with none. And the poor results for Macrons La Rpublique en Marche (LREM) are a big setback for a party often dismissed as an empty shell.  On Sunday, the French voted to renew regional councils in 13 races across the country. A run-off vote is set for next weekend. The losers  Marine Le Pen. Le Pens allies were tipped as big favorites ahead of the election, hoping to take top seats in as many as three regional councils. But exit polls show the RN only obtained 19 percent of the vote nationally, down eight percentage points from its 2015 result. In the northern region of Hauts-de-France, the RN candidate Sbastien Chenu fell short of expectations and came in a distant second with 24 percent of the vote. National Rally voters are loyal, they dont switch parties, but when they are unhappy, they just dont turn up, an ally of Le Pen said in the run-up to the regional elections. The low turnout of RN voters will be driving discussions within the party as to whether Le Pens strategy of making the party less electorally toxic and chasing the conservative vote is the right one. On Sunday evening, Le Pen admitted her voters had stayed home, and she called on them to wake up. In massively abstaining, the voters are giving a free rein to those in power. To abstain does not punish them, she said. All eyes are now on the southern region of Provence-Alpes-Cte dAzur where there is still hope of a RN victory. The partys candidate Thierry Mariani, poached from the conservatives, won 36 percent of the vote, ahead of the conservative candidate Renaud Muselier on 31 percent. But a left wing candidates decision to pull out of the race boosts Museliers chances of victory. Emmanuel Macron. No amount of spin can hide the truth. The results for the presidents LREM party are dismal. The centrist party won only 10.9 percent of the national vote, according to exit polls. In key races such as in Hauts-de-France, LREM was knocked out of the first round. Late Sunday, the election debrief around the president was, well, brief, according to Playbook Paris. Well be joining forces with others against the RN, but the truth is we are not very present [anywhere], said one participant. Theres a lot of talk about why the LREM failed to make a dent in this election: its failure to be a grassroots movement, the backlash against politics in general. In the short term, the answer appears to be no. The National Rally has failed to make gains and neither the left nor the right have appointed a candidate to run against Macron. But the poor showing will feed suspicions in many minds that the LREM is not here to stay, but is little more than a piece of machinery serving Macrons national interests. The winners  Xavier Bertrand. Supporters of the conservative candidate in Hauts-de-France were jubilant when the results rolled in on Sunday evening. Bertrand took 41 percent of the vote in the first round, way ahead of the far-right runner-up Chenu. The results show a surprise surge in popularity for Bertrand, who was neck-and-neck in the polls with his challenger ahead of the vote. The result will put Bertrand in pole position in the leadership race on the right. The right-wing party Les Rpublicains is dithering over whether to hold primaries or just choose a natural leader as a presidential candidate. Bertrand is casting himself as the champion who can beat the National Rally and ultimately become the next president. Speaking on Saturday, Bertrand said he had gripped and broken the jaws of the National Rally. No doubt now that Bertrands hand has been strengthened. Its also a personal victory for the man who has admitted that he has been dismissed as a provincial hillbilly in conservative Parisian circles. Julien Bayou. Its a surprise breakthrough for Bayou in the greater Paris region. The 41-year-old leader of the green party Europe-Ecologie Les Verts won close to 13 percent of the vote, marking him as the leading candidate on the left. On Sunday evening, the candidates from the Socialist Party and the far-left France Unbowed announced they were now backing Bayou. Combined, the left-wing parties took 34 percent of the votes, putting them almost neck-and-neck with the frontrunner, conservative Valrie Pcresse, on 36 percent. Its a reminder that the French left is not completely dead and buried, despite being grievously wounded and divided after Macrons election in 2017. Socialist candidates, many of them incumbents, also look likely to win top jobs in several regional councils.