article_snippet: Former president Mr Sarkozy said: 'Tonight, the Republican right, and the centre, has won the departmental elections.'
article_snippet: Referring to the UMP's electoral alliance with the centrist Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), Former president Mr Sarkozy said: 'Never in the history of the Fifth Republic has our political family won so many departments.'
article_snippet: Former president Mr Sarkozy said 'three years' under the most outdated Socialist party in Europe had brought the Fifth Republic to the Fifth Republic knees, and the electorate had had enough.
article_snippet: Hope is reborn for France,' said Former president Mr Sarkozy. '
article_snippet: The election was also a key test for Mr Sarkozy who, despite a series of corruption scandals, is convinced Mr Sarkozy can return to power in two years' time.