Fifth of French voters do the election wrong

Around one-fifth of French voters woke on Monday morning with a sense of embarrasment and shame as they realised they'd done the election wrong by acting like complete and utter helmets.

The far-right Front National scooped a record 18% of votes in the first round - from a high turnout around the 80% mark - with many people seemingly confused that a party called Front National and led by someone called Le Pen is massively racist. "I feel such a fool" one voter told us. "I was going to vote for someone normal, but my hand jerked at the crucial moment and I ended up ticking the FN box. I'm going to practise my voting technique ahead of the second round in case I miss again and end up voting for that pipsqueak Sarkozy".

Another told us that he'd voted for Le Pen because "I assumed FN had dropped the old racism because this Le Pen is a woman and dresses well, not like her rather shabby father. Now I realise the truth, I am of course tremendously embarrassed".

In order to ensure a more orderly second round, many local councils are offering classes in electoral procedure ahead of the vote. "We will run dummy elections with a supervisor standing with the voter and offer support and advice to the voter", one mayor in a small town in the Dordogne told us. "After our town recorded almost a quarter of votes for FN, we want to ensure our citizens don't make that mistake again".