However, many have said that the UMP is the only governing party in France, making its position very weak compared to the combined opposition.

Led since the tumultuous Reims Congress by Martine Aubry, the main opposition party, the Socialists, won a very bad result: only 16.48% and suffering a loss of 17 seats.

Prominent Socialist MEPs, including defeated leadership candidate Benoît Hamon, lost their seats.

The Socialists lost most votes in middle-class urban areas, while holding their ground better in their rural strongholds.

The conservative nationalist Libertas coalition formed around Philippe de Villiers's Movement for France, but also including the smaller agrarian Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition, suffered losses compared to the two parties' combined 8% showing in 2004.