One of Ours

French President Jacques Chirac suffered a new pasting at the polls Sunday, as the electorate punished his government's policies of public sector reform and defected massively to the Socialists (PS) in the second round of regional elections.

In what was seen as a key test for the president's two-year-old administration, his Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party looked set to be almost wiped from the regional map, with the left taking control of at least 20 of the 22 regions in metropolitan France...

...Speaking on national television, the prime minister conceded that the government had to heed the message from voters, but he said the policies of economic and social reform could not be halted. "I am sure the French do not want a return to immobility. Reforms must be continued very simply because they are necessary"...

...Raffarin's attempts to streamline parts of France's large public sector have provoked a wave of protests by groups including scientific researchers, lawyers, hospital staff and performing artists - while his aim of liberalising employment law has prompted the criticism that he sides with big business.

Chirac was likely to announce a cabinet reshuffle in the coming days, and informed comment before the weekend had it that Raffarin would survive if the regional defeat was containable - but go if it turned into a rout...