marine le pen's hopes of becoming president of france suffered a huge blow tonight as her national front was beaten into joint second place in regional elections the far right party was predicted to make massive gains, but early exit polls put nicolas sarkozy's conservatives out in front it is a huge boost for the 60 year old former president who   despite facing a string of corruption charges   is convinced he can become head of state again in 2017 scroll down for video  marine le pen gives a press conference after her hopes of becoming president of france suffered a huge blow in today's local elections  guargaule's mayor charles antoine casanova counts votes during the first round of the french departments elections in corsica  election officials in saint sebastien sur loire count votes for the country's departments, or administrative regions  by 8pm, an hour after the last vote was cast, ipsos put an alliance between mr sarkozy's ump and the centrist udi on 33 per cent, while the national front (fn) was on 235 per cent, along with the ruling socialists on the same figure the figures made a mockery of ms le pen's claims that her fiercely anti immigration and anti europe party could mount a serious challenge for power 'we'll get stuck into the regions and then we're off to invade the elysee palace,' the 46 year old had said before the vote at stake were 101 departments   or administrative regions   and 4,100 regional government seats ms le pen was certain that she could do better than the opposition conservatives and the ruling socialists, who are performing appallingly because of the hapless government of president francois hollande ms le pen had positioned the national front (fn) away from its overtly racist and anti semitic roots, and won 25 per cent of the vote at local and european elections last year sarkozy immediately ruled out any alliances between his party and fn candidates in next sunday's second round 'to those who voted national front, we understand your frustrations,' the ump chairman told supporters at party headquarters 'but this party will not solve france's problems   it will only make them worse,' added the ex president, who came out of retirement last year and hopes to secure the 2017 presidential ticket for his bitterly divided party in primaries next year manuel valls, the socialist prime minister, has also attacked the fn, claiming it is a huge danger to france conservative leader nicolas sarkozy delivers a speech after his party came first in the local body elections  'i fear for my country, i fear it will split apart when confronted with the national front its policies would be a disaster for the country,' said mr valls 'do you think a national front scoring twenty five per cent in european elections, perhaps thirty per cent in local elections, and so on, cannot win the presidential election?' he asked while the vote means she can no longer argue the fn is france's most popular party, le pen said the result was still a gain for a party almost totally absent from the departements at present, and a slap for hollande's prime minister manuel valls 'manuel valls must now hear the message of voters and have the decency to hand in his resignation to the president,' she told supporters of the centrist reformer, who hollande already said will remain in post whatever the final vote outcome although ms le pen was always unlikely to become president in 2017, it was thought she could come runner up, as her father jean marie le pen did in 2002 le pen senior's limited victory sent shockwaves round the world, even though he eventually lost to jacques chirac french president francois hollande casts his vote in the elections for local councils across france  hollande today acknowledged that the key issues of the elections would be abstention 'and the score of the national front' today, fn candidates were fielded in 1,909 out of a total of 2,054 constituencies for the first round of voting the second round is next sunday for the first time, candidates appeared on ballots in pairs   one male, one female   to ensure that 50 percent of council members will be women those that voted today was estimated at just under 43 per cent of all those eligible   a figure which is up almost six points from the cantonal elections of 2011 the green vote also seemed to have collapsed in today's poll, with the environmentalists receiving just two per cent of the national poll, according to the ipsos poll mr sarkozy had a single term as president, between 2007 and 2012, but was defeated by mr hollande's socialist party within a week of mr sarkozy leaving office, the paris home he shared with his third wife, the former supermodel carla bruni, was raided by anti corruption officers mr sarkozy denies any wrongdoing, but is still facing a number of enquiries, including one into allegations that he received millions in illegal cash from the late colonel muammar gaddafi prime minister manuel valls emerges from a voting booth after casting his vote in the first round of the french departmental elections 
national front second anti eu elysee 235 percent sarkozy french marine le pen today hollande socialists
sarkozy's conservatives made gains in today's french local elections  national front leader marine le pen claim to 'invade the elysee' in tatters  exit polls show her anti eu party came second with 235 percent of vote  hollande's deeply unpopular socialists came joint second on same figures  the elections will determine political makeup of 2,000 local councils 