President Jacques Chirac and his ruling conservative party suffered a crushing defeat in regional midterm elections Sunday, with the opposition Socialists, and their Green and Communist allies seizing control of the vast majority of regional councils. The results marked a sharp rebuke for the government's attempts to reform France's costly health care, pension and education systems.

Chirac's party was expected to lose a number of regional councils after its poor showing in last week's first round of voting. But the scale of the defeat today was so widespread that analysts immediately began speculating whether Chirac's prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, will be replaced in a sweeping post-election cabinet reshuffle that is expected this week.

"It's not just a defeat," said veteran political analyst and commentator Alain Duhamel. "It's a disaster."

Results being tallied tonight showed the Socialists and their allies taking control of at least 21 of 26 regional governments. Nationally, the Socialists and their allies were winning almost 50 percent of the vote, compared to just 37 percent for the government and about 13 percent for the anti-immigration National Front party.