France's regional council elections kick off

The first round of France's regional council elections kicked off on Sunday, while economic troubles and social strains are likely to give impetus to the far-right National Front (FN) party and further undermine the governing Socialists' eventual chances at the 2017 presidential election.
About 43 million registered voters are expected to cast their ballots to pick councilors in 2,054 cantons in 101 departments, except in Paris, Lyon and overseas.
In a binomial ballot, voters will choose in each list a male and female candidates in order to improve equality gender in the departments in line with a reform adopted in 2013.
By 12:00 (1100 GMT), turnout was 18.02 percent, up from 15.7 percent recorded four years ago, the interior ministry's figures showed.
However, the country's pollsters estimated a record abstention at 58 percent up from 2011's rate of 55 percent, a figure mirroring the frustration of disgruntled voters and may punish the ruling PS candidates.
Analysts said the government's failure to deliver on their pledges of better growth and more jobs and repeated broken promise would favor the surge of the extreme parties and consolidated chances of the anti-immigrant FN party to cruise to the Elysee Palace in 2017.
Pollsters' surveys showed the FN and the opposition UMP were neck-and-neck to win close to a third each of Sunday's vote, with Hollande's Socialists lagging behind with 19 percent of the votes, a fresh blow to the French president already struggling to revive slumping popularity.
In the southwestern city of Tulle, his political fiefdom, Hollande said the challenges of Sunday's first round election were "abstention" and "the Front National score".
In order to win a seat at the regional council, candidates have to collect half of the votes. Otherwise they will go to the second round scheduled for March 29 and have to win at least 12.5 percent of the votes on Sunday.
The first official results will be released after the last voting booths close at 19:00 local time (1800 GMT).