<text>  Marine Le Pens hopes of becoming President of France suffered a huge blow tonight as her National Front was beaten into joint second place in regional elections. The far-right party was predicted to make massive gains, but early exit polls put Nicolas Sarkozys conservatives out in front. It is a huge boost for the 60-year-old former President who - despite facing a string of corruption charges - is convinced he can become head of state again in 2017. Scroll down for video . Marine Le Pen gives a press conference after her hopes of becoming president of France suffered a huge blow in todays local elections . Guargaules Mayor Charles Antoine Casanova counts votes during the first round of the French departments elections in Corsica . Election officials in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire count votes for the countrys departments, or administrative regions . By 8pm, an hour after the last vote was cast, Ipsos put an alliance between Mr Sarkozys UMP and the centrist UDI on 33 per cent, while the National Front FN was on 23.5 per cent, along with the ruling Socialists on the same figure. The figures made a mockery of Ms Le Pens claims that her fiercely anti-immigration and anti-Europe party could mount a serious challenge for power. Well get stuck into the regions and then were off to invade the Elysee Palace, the 46-year-old had said before the vote. At stake were 101 departments - or administrative regions - and 4,100 regional government seats. Ms Le Pen was certain that she could do better than the opposition conservatives and the ruling Socialists, who are performing appallingly because of the hapless government of President Francois Hollande. Ms Le Pen had positioned the National Front FN away from its overtly racist and anti-Semitic roots, and won 25 per cent of the vote at local and European elections last year. Sarkozy immediately ruled out any alliances between his party and FN candidates in next Sundays second round. To those who voted National Front, we understand your frustrations, the UMP chairman told supporters at party headquarters. But this party will not solve Frances problems - it will only make them worse, added the ex-president, who came out of retirement last year and hopes to secure the 2017 presidential ticket for his bitterly divided party in primaries next year. Manuel Valls, the Socialist Prime Minister, has also attacked the FN, claiming it is a huge danger to France. Conservative leader Nicolas Sarkozy delivers a speech after his party came first in the local body elections . I fear for my country, I fear it will split apart when confronted with the National Front. Its policies would be a disaster for the country, said Mr Valls. Do you think a National Front scoring twenty five per cent in European elections, perhaps thirty per cent in local elections, and so on, cannot win the presidential election? he asked. While the vote means she can no longer argue the FN is Frances most popular party, Le Pen said the result was still a gain for a party almost totally absent from the departements at present, and a slap for Hollandes Prime Minister Manuel Valls. Manuel Valls must now hear the message of voters and have the decency to hand in his resignation to the president, she told supporters of the centrist reformer, who Hollande already said will remain in post whatever the final vote outcome. Although Ms Le Pen was always unlikely to become president in 2017, it was thought she could come runner up, as her father Jean Marie Le Pen did in 2002. Le Pen seniors limited victory sent shockwaves round the world, even though he eventually lost to Jacques Chirac. French president Francois Hollande casts his vote in the elections for local councils across France . Hollande today acknowledged that the key issues of the elections would be abstention and the score of the National Front Today, FN candidates were fielded in 1,909 out of a total of 2,054 constituencies for the first round of voting. The second round is next Sunday. For the first time, candidates appeared on ballots in pairs - one male, one female - to ensure that 50 percent of council members will be women. Those that voted today was estimated at just under 43 per cent of all those eligible - a figure which is up almost six points from the cantonal elections of 2011. The green vote also seemed to have collapsed in todays poll, with the environmentalists receiving just two per cent of the national poll, according to the Ipsos poll. Mr Sarkozy had a single term as president, between 2007 and 2012, but was defeated by Mr Hollandes Socialist Party. Within a week of Mr Sarkozy leaving office, the Paris home he shared with his third wife, the former supermodel Carla Bruni, was raided by anti-corruption officers. Mr Sarkozy denies any wrongdoing, but is still facing a number of enquiries, including one into allegations that he received millions in illegal cash from the late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Prime Minister Manuel Valls emerges from a voting booth after casting his vote in the first round of the French departmental elections . 