The anti-immigration, Euroskeptic political party, which offers a hard stance on national identity and increase of the country’s Islamic population, won between 27.2 percent and 30.8 percent of the nationwide popular vote.
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Support for the far-right party, which has a strong anti-immigration platform, seemed to rise in reaction to Europe’s refugee crisis and the terror attacks that claimed 130 lives in Paris on November 13.
If we fail, Islamist totalitarianism will take power in our country.
The party has topped the vote in at least six out of 13 regions, according to pollsters’ projections.
Riding a wave of euroscepticism 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.
President Hollande has seen his personal ratings surge on the back of his hardline approach since the Paris carnage, but his party is being punished for a jobless total of around three million.
Socialist Party leader Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, however, said that his party’s candidates could withdraw from the elections in the two regions where the National Front did best and that candidates elsewhere could join with other parties if they so choose.
However, Le Pen and Marechal-Le Pen are expected to win in their respective regions, giving the National Front its first regional governments – a milestone in the history of the party, which so far has governed only a handful of small municipalities.
Long the pariah of French politics, the FN has won greater respectability since Marine took over from her father Jean-Marie as head of the party in 2011. In 2010, the party scored about 11% of the national vote in the departmental elections.
The National Front’s victory isn’t yet secure.
Le Pen has demanded a crackdown on Islamists in France.
Ms Le Pen condemned the PS for removing some nominees in the next round, saying the PS was “neither true nor democratic” and was “handling its voters like vote fodder”.
Having to bow out of the race in some seats and leave a duel between the National Front and the opposition Republicans is a blow for the French President, Francois Hollande.
If traditional parties refuse to join forces against them, analysts predict the FN could take all three regions in the second round on December 13.
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. “Do not allow the Republic to fall”.
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For a year now, polls have shown she would be the most popular choice in the first round of a presidential election.
