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Marine Le Pen’s National Front Leads in First Round regional elections in France
Far Right Gains: National Front winning in some regional elections in France – YouTube
Three weeks after the terror attacks that left 130 dead in Paris,
Marine Le Pen’s National Front took 30.6% of the mainland France vote,
according to an IFOP-Fiducial exit poll. That marked a surge from the
last comparable elections in 2010, when the party won only 11.4% of the
first-round vote.
President François Hollande’s Socialist party and allies came in third place with 22.7% behind Les Républicains—the center-right party of former President Nicolas Sarkozy—and its allies who garnered 27%.
The
first-round results highlight the emergence of Ms. Le Pen’s National
Front as a third force in French politics, capable of luring mainstream
voters. With 18 months to go to presidential and legislative elections,
the results also underline the fading momentum of Mr. Hollande’s
Socialists and other leftist groups, who currently preside over all but
one of France’s mainland regions.
The strong first-round score
doesn’t guarantee the National Front will take control of one of
France’s regions. But their chances are better than in other local votes
because the regional elections don’t necessarily end in runoffs. That
means several parties can get through to the second round of voting,
making it difficult for mainstream parties to unite behind one
anti-National Front candidate in a runoff, as they have in the past.
The
party that takes the largest share of the vote in the second round next
Sunday will get a bonus of 25% of the seats at the regional assembly,
which almost guarantees majority control of the region.
The
strength of the National Front in the first-round vote will force the
mainstream parties to scramble in the coming days to find ways to block
the National Front in regions where it is ahead. Prime Minister Manuel
Valls has already said that his Socialist party and Mr. Sarkozy’s Les
Républicains should prepare to bury decades of rivalry and merge their
lists of candidates for the second-round vote for the regional
assemblies. Alternatively, one party could withdraw from the race.
The
National Front had already chalked up successes in local elections in
recent years after Ms. Le Pen cracked down on the anti-Semitic rhetoric
that kept the National Front on the margins of French politics under the
stewardship of her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Mr. Le Pen’s expulsion from the party in August crowned that makeover.
But
the National Front has continued to endorse anti-immigration and anti
European policies, combined with calls for hard-line security measures.
That enabled Ms. Le Pen to bolster support after the Paris attacks by castigating Mr. Hollande for not implementing soon enough the policies she has long espoused.
In
the Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, where Ms. Le Pen is heading the
National Front ticket, the far-right party took an enormous lead with
43% of the vote, ahead of Mr. Sarkozy’s Les Républicains with 24%,
according to the IFOP-Fiducial exit poll. If Ms. Le Pen wins the second
round of voting, she will likely become president of the region—the
highest office she has ever attained.
Taking power in one of
France’s 12 mainland regions would be a symbolic coup for the National
Front. Regional assemblies and their presidents have no control over the
National Front’s favored topics of defense, security and immigration.
But the region plays a central role in defining economic policy,
channeling subsidies to businesses and building high schools.
Entrepreneurs in areas where the National Front is polling strongly are concerned about the impact of a victory for the party.
According
to a survey of 403 business leaders by IFOP-Fiducial between Nov. 26
and Dec. 2, a majority of business leaders expect a negative impact on
jobs and investment if Marion Maréchal Le Pen—Ms. Le Pen’s niece—wins in
the southern region of Provence Alpes-Côte d’Azur. Out of those polled,
70% said a National Front victory in the second round would make them
worried about the future.
Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2015/12/marine-le-pens-national-front-leads-in.html
