The Socialist party, whose most recognizable member is current President François Hollande, said it would withdraw candidates from two regions to help former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s Republican party, France’s conservatives, defeat the NF. The ruling party lost most councils to either the National Front or the conservatives, secured between 22 and 23 percent of the votes.
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The National Front topped the polls with nearly 30 per cent of the vote in the first round of regional elections on Sunday.
The National Front had been gaining popularity even before the November attacks in Paris stirred up nationalist sentiments.
First projections are expected at 1900 GMT with FN leader Marine Le Pen on course to top the poll in the economically-depressed northern region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, which was once a bastion of the left. Marine Le Pen she speaks after hearing the outcomes of the 1st spherical of the regional elections on Saturday.
Has France’s National Front changed?
The final result will be decided in a second-round vote on Sunday. A second round of voting will take place December 13, and many voters who supported moderate forces in the first round will probably support other parties to keep the National Front from winning again.
Around 45 million people are eligible to vote in an election being held under tight security following the country’s worst-ever terror attacks, which have thrust the FN’s anti-immigration and often Islamophobic message to the fore.
Her young niece, Marion Marechal-Le Pen, is running to lead the southern Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region.
“It’s the future of France that is at stake”, party leader Jean-Christophe Cambadelis said on Monday.
A win for either by a party long seen as a pariah would be unprecedented in France.
Though the power of French regions is mostly limited to infrastructure spending and tourism promotion, running a region provides both local bases and national platforms for the victors.
In regional elections, candidates can qualify for the second round if they receive 10 percent of registered voters in the first round.
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Socialist leaders will begin talks after the first results come in on Sunday to decide if they will withdraw from some second-round battles, with the Republicans meeting the following day to agree their strategy. “We think the best way to oppose the National Front is by taking our seats in the regional assembly”, he said. Le Pen’s father, National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, had a history of anti-Semitism, though his daughter has distanced herself and the party from him and his record.
