France's far-right National Front led in at least five of the 12 mainland regions that voted in the first round of elections to select legislatures, according to exit polls that forecast a setback for President Francois Hollande three weeks after the Paris terror attacks.

Across France, the Marine Le Pen-led National Front took 27.2 percent, The Republicans of former President Nicolas Sarkozy 27 percent, and Hollande's Socialists 24 percent, according to polling company Ipsos. Another pollster, Ifop, gave National Front a wider lead, with 30.3 percent to 27.1 percent for the Republicans and the Socialist Party at 22.6 percent. A series of smaller parties took less than 10 percent, the cutoff for qualifying for a second round next Sunday.

"It's a major score for the National Front," Brice Teinturier, deputy head of Ipsos, said on France 2 television. "They've benefited from the attacks, they've benefited from the migrant crisis."

The regional vote was the first electoral test for Hollande since the Paris attacks that killed 130 and prompted his attempts to marshal a united front against Islamic State. Held amid tight security, policemen and soldiers were seen patrolling the streets of Paris while bags were searched at polling station entrances.

Polls suggest that after the Dec. 13 second round the National Front, led by Le Pen, could win control of two regions for the first time: Nord-Pas de Calais in the far north and Provence Cote-d'Azur in the south.

Welcome Result

"We welcome this magnificent result with humility and seriousness," Le Pen said from Henin Beaumont in northern France. "We have the ability to achieve the national unity that the country needs."

Hollande's approval rating has jumped 20 percentage points in the past month to 35 percent, the highest since February 2013, according to a TNS Sofres poll published Wednesday, as the French largely approved of his response to last month's attacks. But his rising popularity hasn't filtered through to his party at the ballot box.

Though the power of French regions is mostly limited to infrastructure spending and tourism promotion, running a region provides both local bases and national platforms for the victors. The vote is also the last national electoral test before the presidential election in April 2017.

Sarkozy Appeal

Sarkozy, who is head of The Republicans nationally and is preparing for another run at the presidency, appealed to National Front voters to consider his party when they return to the polls next week.

"I want to say all of those who chose them that we understand their concern, but they'll find no solution in a party that will significantly aggravate the problems of France," he said.

The National Front led in six of the 12 regions of mainland France, The Republicans in four and the Socialists in two.

The National Front has for decades called for reduced immigration and for France to retake control of its borders as well as its currency. In the current atmosphere of insecurity and rising unemployment, Le Pen says she predicted many of the problems besetting the country today, as did her father, former National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.

"The strength of the National Front is that increasingly they are seen as an alternative to the failure of the governing parties," Frederic Dabi, a pollster at Ifop, said on I-tele.