Voting got underway in France on Sunday in the first round of mid-term local elections that could hit the ruling Socialist party with potentially heavy mid-term losses, jeopardizing reforms, reports Reuters.
Major gains are possible for the far-right National Front in the elections for mayors in towns and villages across the country.
Dissatisfaction with President Francois Hollande's rule - his approval rate is at record lows of 19 percent in opinion polls - and a string of legal issues involving opposition conservatives are seen hitting turnout and helping the anti-immigrant Front (FN), which hopes to win outright in a record number of towns.
Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault this week called on the opposition conservative UMP party to urge its voters to back Socialist candidates in towns where it stood no chance of election, promising the Socialists would do the same in a joint effort to keep out the FN out.
One Hollande aide forecast turnout of around 55 percent, about 10 points lower than normal, while recent polls have pegged it at around 60 percent.
The abstention rate reached 33.5 percent in the last town hall elections of 2008, a record that many fear could be topped.
Read more of this report from Reuters.