France's opposition Socialists are facing a long road to transform their triumph in regional elections into a serious bid to take the French presidency from Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012.
The Socialists and their left-wing allies won 21 of the 22 mainland regions in the two-round elections that ended Sunday, trouncing Sarkozy's party in the last major ballot-box test before the French presidential vote.
The better-than-expected victory buoyed the left-wing's hopes after years of squabbling left commentators wondering whether the Socialists could ever again unite to become a party of power.
"The return of the left" read the headline on the popular Le Parisien newspaper while the left-wing Liberation proclaimed "the left wins the day".
Party leader Martine Aubry, best known as the woman who gave France the 35-hour workweek, was riding high, less than two years after taking the party helm at the height of a leadership crisis.
As attention now turns to presidential primaries next year, the 59-year-old former social affairs minister has yet to declare herself a candidate for the Elysee palace while others are already in the starting blocks.
"This vote is encouraging but it also creates expectations," said Aubry after hailing an "unprecedented victory" for the Socialists and their allies.
The left must "fully win the trust" of French voters by putting forward ideas that reflect "their desire for a just and caring society," she said.
The plain-spoken mayor of the northern city of Lille and daughter of former European Commission president Jacques Delors was credited for the election victory and many now see her as Sarkozy's top rival from the left.
Critics and supporters agree she managed over the past months to assert some authority over the party and capitalise on Sarkozy's unpopularity during tough economic times.
Former presidential candidate Segolene Royal is hoping that victory in her stronghold of Poitou-Charentes where she picked up more than 60 percent will propel her bid for a rematch against Sarkozy.
The glamorous Royal lost the party leadership in 2008 to Aubry, who harbours a personal enmity toward the former presidential candidate and has dismissed her as a political lightweight.
A question mark hung over the candidacy of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn whose poll ratings suggest he would be the left's best hope of beating Sarkozy in 2012.
The 60-year-old former Socialist finance minister last month said he did not rule out leaving his job as the managing director of the International Monetary Fund to run for the French presidency.
It remained unclear whether being out of the fray of French politics however would harm his bid.
Other possible contenders include 47-year-old Manuel Valls, the mayor of the Paris suburb of Evry who portrays himself as a new-generation Socialist capable of bringing new ideas and fresh faces to the party.
Former party leader Francois Hollande, Royal's ex-partner, is also testing the waters, as is Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe.
For the Socialists, the election win looks like a case of deja vu: in 2004, they swept to victory in regional elections but failed to build momentum and defeat Sarkozy in the 2007 elections.
Sarkozy "has shown that he has lost his touch," said the Socialist party leader in parliament, Jean-Marc Ayrault.
"We must quickly provide answers and not get bogged down in squabbling" and a "battle of egos," he said.
Supporters are convinced that the American-style primaries set for next year will breathe new energy into the left at a time when Sarkozy no longer appears unbeatable.
Lacking a clear programme, the Socialists remain in disarray, having lost three presidential elections in a row -- most humiliatingly in 2002 when Lionel Jospin was trounced by far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in the first round.
The Socialists came to power for the first time in 1981 with the election of Francois Mitterrand, who won again in 1988, but the dream of returning to the Elysee has eluded them since.