Her father and the FN’s co-founder Jean-Marie Le Pen rocked the French establishment by reaching the second round of the 2002 presidential election but was defeated by Jacques Chirac as voters threw their support behind the mainstream candidate.
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So there was little wonder that in a first round of voting in regional elections on Dec 6 Marine Le Pen’s far-right party outstripped its mainstream rivals, notching up the biggest win of its history. She ended up losing to the center-right in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie region where she ran, despite leading in the first round of voting.
“The dynamic is with us”, he said.
ROMAIN LAFABREGUE/AFP/Getty Images Laurent Wauquiez, right-right Les Republicains party candidate in the Rhone-Alpes-Auvergne region, speaks to the press as he arrives to Lyon’s prefecture after the announcement of the results.
Sarkozy said his party should take heed, however, of the high support for the anti-immigration National Front.
Mentioning national and joblessness, protection identity, he said: “We now must spend the time for in depth discussions in what worries the French, who anticipate powerful and exact responses”. National Front leader Marine Le Pen had described this contest as the “foundation stone” for success in national elections next year. On the other hand, the premier also pointed out that it is not time to relax yet: “No sigh of relief, no triumphalism, no message of victory – because – the danger of the extreme right has not been eliminated”. A similar dynamic was in play in departmental elections in March, when more than half of the left’s voters switched to the mainstream right candidate in the second round, and the right won 535 out of 538 contests with the National Front.
“They are winning a lot in regions that historically voted for the Communist party and for the far left”.
The implications for France’s 2017 presidential elections are unclear.
Despite having won six out of 13 regions in the first round of voting on December 6, Le Pen’s party did not manage to win powers in a single region after the second round of voting on December 13 – despite winning 6.8 million votes, it’s largest ever score.
The conservatives took control of seven of France’s 13 regions while the Socialist party won in five regions. He said it was now the government’s duty to “listen more to the French people” and “to act in a stronger, faster way” particularly on employment in a country with record joblessness.
The party also more than tripled its number of regional councillors across France; it now has 358 compared to 118 previously. She hailed the “total eradication” of Socialist Party representation in the south-east and the northern regions that the tactical vote produced, and condemned the concerted campaigns against her as “defamation decided in gilded palaces”.
“When faced with the National Front, 60% to 70% of the French are ready to deny it victory”, Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, head of the Socialist Party, said on Europe 1 radio on Monday. But overall, Sarkozy’s party did less well than expected, exposing its divisions on strategy for countering Le Pen.
While the result will be personally disappointing for Marine Le Pen, the party’s steadily increasing tally of votes means that her dominance within the party is likely to remain unchallenged.
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The polling agencies base their projections on actual vote count in select constituencies. But, in the end, the early results confirmed what an angry Ms Le Pen herself declared in her concession speech: France is still a two-party country, those who are for the FN, and those who are against it. “I thank the voters who have protected our attractive region”, said the right’s candidate in the north, Xavier Bertrand, who beat Ms. Le Pen.
