Despite the strong result, it faces an uphill battle to clinch a run-off vote next week after Socialists withdrew candidates to block it from power.
The FN came first with at least 30 percent of the vote nationwide and topped the list in at least six of 13 regions, according to estimates from the interior ministry.
FN leader Marine Le Pen and her 25-year-old niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen broke the symbolic 40 percent mark in their respective regions, shattering previous records for the party as they tapped into voter anger over a stagnant economy and security fears linked to Europe's refugee crisis.
Marine Le Pen, a lawyer by training, welcomed the "magnificent result", saying it proved the FN was "without contest the first party of France".
A grouping of right-wing parties took 27 percent, the official estimates showed, while the ruling Socialist Party and its allies took 23.5 percent.
The polls were held under tight security following France's worst-ever attacks, which have thrust the FN's anti-immigration and often Islamophobic message to the fore.
About half of the 45 million registered voters took part in the polls...http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/french-sees-record-gains-regional-polls-151207035655118.html
7/12/15
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France’s far-right National Front tops first round of regional vote...
ReplyDeleteFrance’s far-right National Front (FN) party rode a wave of fear over immigration and terrorism to storm to a commanding position in the first round of voting in the country’s high-stakes regional elections on Sunday.
The anti-immigration party led by Marine Le Pen scored around 28 percent of the vote nationally and topped the list in at least six of 13 regions, according to final estimates from the interior ministry.
The FN came ahead of both former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s Les Républicains (formerly the UMP), which earned 27 percent, and President François Hollande’s Socialists, with 23.5 percent, official estimates showed.
Le Pen and her 25-year-old niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen broke the symbolic 40 percent mark in their respective regions, shattering previous records for the party as they tapped into voter anger over a stagnant economy and security fears.
The polls were held under tight security in the first national vote since Islamic State group terrorists killed 130 people in a wave of attacks across Paris on November 13.
Despite its commanding position, the FN now faces a tougher battle in a second round of voting next Sunday after the Socialists announced they were withdrawing candidates in three regions in a bid to block the far right from power...............http://www.france24.com/en/20151206-france-far-right-national-front-le-pen-tops-first-round-regional-elections