France 24 reported that exit polls showed the National Front ahead in at least six out of France’s 13 regions.
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The anti-immigrant National Front party is ahead in six of France’s 13 metropolitan regions, outperforming both the center-right alliance of former president Nicolas Sarkozy and current President François Hollande’s Socialist Party.
Runoffs will be held on December 13, with the National Front well-placed to win one or more regions.
The French Jewish umbrella organization CRIF on Monday called on French mainstream political forces to unite against the far-right and xenophobic National Front (FN) party, which on Sunday became the largest party in nation-wide regional elections.
FN leader Marine Le Pen gave a triumphant victory speech, declaring this the start of a new era in politics where her ideas would dominate.
Riding a wave of Euro-skepticism and anti-immigrant feeling which has brought far-right parties to prominence across Europe, the breakthrough bolsters Le Pen’s position as a serious contender for the 2017 presidential election.
Le Pen is campaigning to run the northern Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, which includes the port city of Calais, a flashpoint in Europe’s migrant drama.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the co-founder and former leader of the France’s far right party the National Front (FN), celebrated the party’s achievements in the regional elections Sunday by tweeting a video of Conservative party candidate Christian Estrosi wearing a skullcap and dancing with Jewish men.
The National Front has come first in half of the regions in a first round of local elections in France.
The result on Sunday was a major blow for Socialist President Francois Hollande, who had seen improved poll ratings after the Paris attacks.
Marine Le Pen has distanced the FN from her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded it and has been prosecuted for anti-Semitism.
However, since taking over as leader in 2011 Marine Le Pen has sought to make the FN a less toxic brand, dialling down its racist overtones.
Ms Le Pen told RTL radio: “I believe the incredible results of the National Front amounts to the revolt of the people against the elite”.
After a string of electoral highs, the FN broke another glass ceiling on Sunday, boosted by voters’ fears over the Paris attacks, immigration linked to the refugee crisis and record unemployment.
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“There is a choice between two visions of France”, Valls said Monday night on the TV station TF1 – that of traditional parties and that of the extreme right “which divides the French, tries to pit one against the other”.
