There will be a run-off on Dec.13.
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Nicolas Sarkozy, eager to distance himself both from the Socialists and the National Front, ruled out such a move for his party’s candidates who came third, sparking divisions inside his own ranks, according to Le Parisien.
Following are the results of the first round of regional elections in France released by the interior ministry after votes were counted in 98% of polling stations: Front National 27,96%.
The early estimates showed Marine Le Pen taking a whopping 40 percent of the vote in the economically depressed northern region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, once a bastion of the left.
The vote may reshape the political landscape, making the 2017 presidential polls a three-way race after decades of domination by the Socialists and conservatives.
The conservatives and their allies were leading in four regions, including Paris, and the Socialists in three.
Le Pen called on all patriots to back her party in the second round and turn their backs on this political class that deceives them.
PARIS France’s Socialist Party on Monday said it would pull its candidates out of a third regional poll, that of eastern France, adding to its efforts to create an electoral “barricade” against the far right, the party’s chief said on Monday.
The ruling Socialists, who are now in control of all but one French region, came top in just two, mustering just 23.5 per cent of the national vote.
Victories for the Front National in regional election polls suggest that French voters are looking to take a hard-line on extremism and immigration. But his Socialist Party has languished behind the FN and the Centre-right Republicans. FN party leaders have consistently linked terrorism with immigration.
She said these were “magnificent results that we welcome with humility and with a deep sense of responsibility”. But Sunday’s voting was only a first round, and some mainstream voters may steer away from far right candidates in the decisive December 13 run-off.
In the current atmosphere of insecurity and rising unemployment, Le Pen says she predicted numerous problems besetting the country today, as did her father, former National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.
French regions have wide powers over local transport, education, and economic development.
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A row has erupted within Mr Sarkozy’s party over whether his decision to take a hard-Right line had simply increased the far-Right vote or spared his party even further humiliation.
