Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty ImagesPARIS In Sunday's local elections, the far-right National Rally candidate for Marine Le Pens lost to the center-right candidate in the southern French region Provence-Alpes -Cte dAzur.National Rally candidate Thierry Mariani received 42.7 percent of votes, against 57.3% for Renaud Muselier, the incumbent regional president for Les Rpublicains.Le Pen is disappointed. She had hoped to win at least one regional vote in Sunday's local elections to help her presidential bid for 2022. Far-right leader Le Pen is preparing for her third attempt to win the Elyse, and polls show that she and Emmanuel Macron are tied for April's vote.The regional elections were seen as important indicators of the national mood. Les Rpublicains, a conservative party, has made a remarkable comeback with many potential rivals to Macron getting positive results.Former minister Xavier Bertrand received 52.37% of the vote in Hauts-deFrance, against 25.65% for the National Rally candidate.Bertrand's center-right party hopes to use its successes in these elections as a way to present itself as the main opposition to Macron. Bertrand insists that he will run for president, even though the party has yet to confirm his presidential candidate.Numerous candidates for Macrons La Rpublique En Marche had been eliminated from the first round of the election, which took place on June 20th. The party received only 11 percent at a national level.Stanislas Guerini (leader of LREM) spoke on Sunday on BFMTV. He said that although the results were disappointing, the party played a part in defeating National Rally.All regional presidents, mainstream left and right, were elected to their current positions.UPDATE: This article has been updated with official election results.
