**French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to reshuffle his cabinet following a heavy defeat for his party in regional elections.**The president met Prime Minister Francois Fillon the day after the vote to discuss strategy.
Claude Gueant, the president’s chief of staff, said a “technical reshuffle”, was planned, AFP news agency reported.
The election has left President Sarkozy’s centre-right UMP party in control of just one of 22 regions.
With almost all votes counted, it had won 36%, while the Socialist-led opposition gained some 54%. Voter turnout was 51%.
The elections are the last major electoral test in France before the presidential election in 2012.
Unpopular reforms
Mr Gueant described the result as “a big wake-up call for quick and effective action” on unemployment and other economic challenges, while Mr Fillon said the vote showed that the centre-right had not been “convincing”.
“With unemployment at its highest level in a decade, and with France’s bank books showing screaming red deficits, many here feel Mr Sarkozy’s bold promises were little more than whispered sweet nothings”
Opposition leader Martine Aubry said the results expressed the French people’s “rejection of the politics of the president and the government”.
One poll has suggested that 57% of people would like to see a change of government after the regional polls.
French media speculated that former interior minister Francois Baroin - who also held talks with Mr Sarkozy on Monday - could replace Budget Minister Eric Woerth, who in turn could replace Labour Minister Xavier Darcos.
The poor results may make Mr Sarkozy far more cautious about pushing through a comprehensive programme of reforms that has already clearly cost him votes, the BBC’s Emma Jane Kirby reports from Paris.
Mr Sarkozy himself has suggested the possibility of a pause in the pace of reforms after the elections.
Many people are angry that the president’s election promises - to make ordinary people richer and to make France more competitive - have failed to come good, our correspondent says.
High unemployment and resentment over planned judicial and pension reforms are among the factors seen to have prompted people to use a regional election to punish the central government.
With three million people currently out of work, France is now suffering its highest level of unemployment in decades.
The elections saw a reversal of the decline of the far-right National Front, which won more than 9% over two rounds of voting.