Paris

French researchers protesting against the government over deep cuts to science funding emerged strengthened after last weekend's regional elections, which saw the ruling conservatives wiped off the map by a left-wing alliance.

The Socialist party, with their Green and Communist allies, took 50% of the vote — a score not seen since François Mitterrand's presidential victory in 1981. The Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, the party created by President Jacques Chirac in 2002 to unite the right, took 37% leaving it with only Alsace; previously, the party held 14 of France's 22 regions.

Mass demonstrations by researchers in the run up to the election contributed to the vote against Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. The revolt hit a public nerve, symbolizing what was wrong with the administration.

“The unprecedented protests by researchers played a significant part in the results of the elections, something never seen in recent history,” says Vincent Courtillot, a geophysicist at the Paris Geophysical Institute, on the Jussieu campus in Paris. Courtillot should know. He was principal adviser to the minister for national education and research Claude Allègre who, following a smaller scientists' uprising in 2000, was simply sacked (see Nature 404, 421; 2000).

Courtillot is now optimistic about progress. Never before have researchers been so united on the shape of needed reforms, he points out (see Nature 428, 105; 200410.1038/428105a). “A significant fraction of requests stand a better chance of being heard now,” he says.

Chirac is expected to hold on to Raffarin, at least until June elections to the European Parliament, but to implement a thorough government reshuffle.