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PARIS — The long-flailing French left made a big-time comeback Sunday, crushing Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservatives in regional elections colored by voters’ economic worries — and informally kicking off the 2012 presidential race.
Cheers resounded from Socialist Party headquarters as leftists swept races from the Riviera to Paris. With 97 percent of ballots counted, the Socialists and their allies won 54 percent of the vote, while Sarkozy’s UMP party had 35.3 percent, according to the Interior Ministry.
Sunday’s vote came close to a sweep of all 26 regions that the Socialists were hoping for.
