Marine le Pen Photo: VCG

 French far-right leader Marine le Pen's party performed weaker than expected in the first round of regional elections Sunday, in a vote marked by record levels of abstention.

Projections showed the center-right Republicans party on course to top Sunday's vote, while Le Pen's National Rally undershot forecasts based on voter surveys conducted last week. 

"Our voters didn't turn out," Le Pen said in her first comments after the vote from her stronghold of Henin-Beaumont in northern France. "I call on them to respond urgently."

Although she was not standing for election herself, she had been hoping for a strong party performance to give her momentum ahead of 2022's presidential and parliamentary elections.

The vote for new assemblies in mainland France's 13 regions and 96 departments takes place over two consecutive Sundays, with a second run-off vote scheduled for June 27. 

Polls last week had suggested the National Rally (RN) could finish top in six regions in the first round, possibly putting it on course to win at least one of them for the first time in its history. 

Its best hope was in the southeastern Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur - home to Marseille, Saint-Tropez and Cannes - where its campaign was fronted by Thierry Mariani who had been forecast to finish first. But Mariani was running neck-and-neck with the current head of the region, Renaud Muselier from the Republicans, at between 30-35 percent of the vote, according to exit polls.

It is hard to predict the ultimate winner here, or elsewhere, because of the complicated electoral system and the impact of tactical voting, which usually sees mainstream parties gang up to keep the far-right out of power. 

But at a national level, the projected vote share for the RN of around 19 percent is around nine points lower than in the last regional polls in 2015.