Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy Monday was facing the results of weekend regional elections in France, which show a serious erosion of his support from the right. Paris newspaper Le Monde points out that while the elections have no immediate impact on his role or his government, they show that the right has reservations about the president’s actions, his personality and his ability to pull together a majority for 2012 election.

Sarkozy and his celebrity wife, Carla Bruni, were in the news in the election run-up, with tabloids running stories daily about a gossip-based marital affairs rumour. Despite, or perhaps because of the gossip, the turnout for the vote was considerably lower than usual, less than half of voters.

French media and politicians used voter abstinence to argue, depending on their political persuasion, that les citoyens were showing indifference or dislike.

Le Dauphine Libéré, regional newspaper, shows Annemasse having one of the Haute Savoie’s lowest turnouts, just over 30 percent, with La Forclaz, which voted to the right, having the highest, at 78 percent.

Links to other sites: Guardian, UK, Le Monde (Fre), Libération (Fre),

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