France’s far-right National Front party dealt a major blow to the ruling Socialists after several of its candidates took prime position in the first round of local elections.

The main right-wing opposition UMP party also hailed a “big victory” on Sunday as initial polls showed it came out on top, amid severe disillusion with the government of President Francois Hollande against a backdrop of near-zero economic growth and high unemployment.

“The National Front has arrived as a major independent force – a political force both at the national and local level,” Le Pen, who scored 18 percent in the 2012 presidential election, told TF1 television.

According to a BVA poll, the UMP and allies took 48 percent of the vote nationwide while the Socialist party and allies took 43 percent.

The National Front seven percent – far higher than its 0.9 percent result in the first round of 2008 municipal polls and a high national tally given that it fielded candidates in only 596 of 36,000 municipalities.

The party’s leader, Marine Le Pen, said the polls marked the “end of the bipolarisation of the political scene” and were “an exceptional vintage” for her party.

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