Less than a month after a series of deadly terrorist attacks rocked its capital city, the French people have sent a message to their government by voting for the far-right National Front party in this weekend’s regional elections.
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Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front welcomed the “magnificent result” and thanked her supporters in today’s press conference.
The anti-euro, anti-immigrant party of Marine Le Pen led in six out of 12 regions in mainland France on Sunday, increasing its share of the vote nationally to 28 per cent from 11 per cent in the last regional vote in 2010, the Interior Ministry said. Taking second place was the center-right Republicans Party of former President Nicolas Sarkozy with 27.2 percent, and President Francois Hollande’s Socialists came in third at 22.7 percent.
In advance of Sunday’s run-off election that will decide the final results, the Socialists said that they will start withdrawing candidates in certain regions to ensure a united opposition to the National Front. Additionally, the 6 million votes the National Front obtained in the regional elections are not enough to win the second round of a presidential election, which means the party still has to convince a larger number of voters if it wants to control the Elysee in 2017.
“Fear of terrorism and immigration explains part of the reason for the National Front’s success”, NPR’s Eleanor Beardsey reported.
In a third region where the National Front came in first and the Socialist Party third, Jean-Pierre Masseret, the left-wing candidate in the Alsace-Lorraine-Champagne-Ardenne – the “East” region – has refused to withdraw.
That figure represents a sharp increase on the 2007 election, when 4.3 per cent of French Jews voted for the far-right party. Her niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, won 42 percent of the votes in the Mediterranean coastal region of Provence Cote d’Azur, according to preliminary exit polls.
Nevertheless, Nicolas Sarkozy, who heads the centre right Republicans, has ruled out a similar strategy because of his party in the next round. Any party which secures 10% backing in the first round can field candidates next Sunday.
Sapir added that Le Pen would get more chances in presidential campaign if she succeeded both to make her political agenda more specific and more realistic and keep its radical flavor that attracted voters.
Sunday’s voting for leadership councils in the regions was widely seen as a response to the November 13 Paris attacks that left 130 dead and the influx of migrants to Europe. The party also placed first in last year’s elections in France for the European Parliament, gaining 25 percent of the vote.
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Party leader Marine Le Pen has demanded a crackdown on Muslims in France.
