France’s National Front rise ‘is people’s revolt against the elite’

France’s mainstream political parties were scrambling for a way to stop the rise of the far-right National Front (FN) today after its historic first-round lead in regional elections.

The achievement for the anti-immigrant party Sunday comes shortly after last month’s Islamic State terror attacks in Paris, which killed 130 people. The Socialist party, whose most recognizable member is current President François Hollande, said it would withdraw candidates from two regions to help former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s Republican party, France’s conservatives, defeat the NF.

A second round of voting will be held on 13 December.

Both women, however, face an uphill battle to clinch the run-off vote after the socialist party withdrew candidates in the key regions and called on its supporters to back conservative rivals.

French President Francois Hollande’s ruling Socialist Party and its allies took 23.5 percent of the vote.

The National Front had its best showing in two regions where Le Pens were at the top of the ballot: Marine Le Pen in the northern region known as Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, and her 25-year-old niece Marion Maréchal-Le Pen in the southern region of Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur.

France’s National Front political party leader Marine Le Pen delivers a speech during the National Front political party summer university in Marseille, France, September 6, 2015.

Party leader, Marine Le Pen, said the victory reflected the fact people have had enough of being told what to do.

But Le Pen’s anti-immigration stance is not the only part of her manifesto which resonates with voters. The National Front Party has a history of doing well in the first round but struggling to sustain its support in the second round.

Jean-Marie was booted out of the National Front (FN) he founded by his own daughter in late August after a series of anti-Semitic and racist remarks that were deemed too damaging the party’s image. Some Paris residents believe Le Pen is using the national mood of fear and anger over the recent terrorist attacks to her advantage. “The people no longer support the disdain they have been (subjected to) for years by a political class defending its own interests”.

“The strength of the National Front is that increasingly they are seen as an alternative to the failure of the governing parties”, Frederic Dabi, a pollster at Ifop, said on I-tele.

French regions rule over local transport and economic development as well as high schools and vocational training, with beefed-up powers after a reform that cut their numbers from 22 to 13.

“The National Front is an excellent first-round party”, said Camus.