President Jacques Chirac of France held crisis talks with his Prime Minister yesterday, under pressure to dismiss him and shake up the conservative government after a crushing defeat in regional elections.
A cabinet reshuffle is widely expected and the fate of cost-cutting reforms hangs in the balance after the left-wing opposition's landslide win on Sunday.
Mr Chirac and Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin made no comment but the President's office said he was "working with the Prime Minister on decisions he will take over the next few days".
Buoyed by deep public discontent with painful reforms that have provoked widespread protests, the Socialist Party and its allies won nearly all of France's 26 regions and beat all cabinet ministers running for regional council seats.
The left won nearly 50 per cent of votes compared to just short of 37 per cent for the centre-right, according to Interior Ministry figures.
A big mid-term protest vote had been expected, and it had little impact on France's stock market, but the size of the swing to the left was a shock for Mr Chirac.
"The French have fired a very big warning shot in our direction," a government spokesman said.