Le Pen's party comes top in Provence in regional election

PARIS - The party of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen came top in the first round of regional elections in the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region around Marseille, beating the incumbent centre-right into second place, according to an exit poll.

The Rassemblement National's Thierry Mariani garnered 33% of the vote, the exit poll showed, just ahead of the 30% won by the centre-right's Renaud Muselier, who had struck an alliance with President Emmanuel Macron's party.