President Nicolas Sarkozy of France yesterday suffered his first electoral setback since coming to power 10 months ago: his centre-right UMP party lost ground to the opposition Socialist party in local elections.

The results of the first round of voting leave Mr Sarkozy's party in danger of losing control of a string of large cities including Strasbourg, Marseilles and Toulouse in the second-round run-off on March 16, which would translate into electoral reality his plunge in popularity of recent months.