Far-Right Front Leads in 1st Round of French Regional Elections

Local Editor

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front is leading in the first round of regional elections, leading all parties in six out of 13 regions and garnering 28 percent of the national vote, according to Interior French Ministry estimates.

Le Pen and her niece, Marion Marechal-Le Pen, are both set to take more than 40 percent of the vote in the north and southeast of the country, TV exit polls showed on Sunday.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the people have spoken out and France can now hold her head high. This vote confirms what has not been confirmed by official observers - the National Front is now the leading party in the country," Le Pen told her supporters.

Meanwhile, the ruling Socialist Party and its allies received 23.5 percent of the vote, with over 85% of the ballots counted.

About 45 million French people came out to vote on Sunday.

Assemblies in the 13 regions of metropolitan France and in four overseas territories were being elected. Results for Paris are not yet in.

The Ifop, OpinionWay and Ipsos project polling agencies predict that the National Front won between 27 and 30 percent of the ballots in Sunday's voting, followed by former President Nicolas Sarkozy's party, The Republicans, and President Francois Hollande's governing Socialists.

If confirmed, it would be the first time the National Front has captured any of France's regions as well as boost Marine Le Pen's chances for the presidential election in 2017.

The far-right National Front [FN], led by Marine Le Pen, has been expected to secure at least two seats: one in the northern region of North-Pas-de-Calais, and another in the southern Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, where Le Pen's niece Marion is running.

Voters from the east of France, from Alsace to Burgundy, as well as from parts of the center and south, are also expected to choose La Pen and her party.

The Socialist party will pull out of the second round of regional elections in the north and southeast of France, the regions where the National Front received major support on Sunday, party chief Jean-Christophe Cambadelis said.

The decision is an attempt to block the National Front, Cambadelis added, explaining that this would leave the voters with only conservative candidates in the two regions during the final second round of voting on December 13.

Since the Paris attacks, Marine Le Pen has been focusing her attention on security and the immigration crisis. Her strong emphasis on these issues in the final days of campaigning has attracted a significant number of new supporters.

A rather high abstention rate of nearly 50 percent is also expected to influence the returns.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team