French regional election tests far-right strength

The FN, led by controversial figure Marine Le Pen, is in pole position to seize six districts with 28 per cent of the vote nationally.

It’s still some time until France goes to the polls for a genuinely important national election, and Le Pen will be disadvantaged by the electoral system.

That’s not to say the Front National is at odds with Trump’s sentiment, likely just how he said it. Le Pen’s party runs on a strong anti-immigration plank, campaigning for a huge reduction in legal immigration, the prioritisation of French citizens over immigrants in social housing and jobs, the deportation of foreign criminals and a zero tolerance approach to illegal immigration.

Far right National Front party regional leader for southeastern France, Marion Marechal-Le Pen, left, blows a kiss to supporters as she arrives on stage for a meeting in Paris, France, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. In the traditionally Socialist northeastern region where she is running, the party won more than 40 percent of the vote.

In 2002, Jean Marie Le Pen (Marine’s father) did make it into the second round of the French Presidential election, but was absolutely smashed by Jacques Chirac, the mainstream centre-right candidate, who picked up more than 80% of the vote. “They key word won’t be ideology but pragmatism”, she said in a clear bid to lure voters fearful of an agenda by a party accused by the mainstream of dividing the French. Dishing out that message, she has vowed that as head of her southern region, she would cut funds to planned parenthood groups and associations representing Muslims. Her campaign has exploited anger over the situation in Calais, where thousands of migrants are camping in squalid conditions in the hope of reaching Britain, winning her almost half of first-round votes in the northern port. Socialists and Republicans are divided on whether banding together to beat the FN is a good idea, aware such a move plays into the far-right narrative that the traditional parties are two sides of the same coin.

In the north, Le Pen would win 47 percent of the vote while Xavier Bertrand, a former minister with the conservative Republicans, would get 53 percent, the TNS Sofres-OnePoint poll showed. The online poll took place two days after last Sunday’s first round.

The Socialist Party has pulled out of the race in both the Nord-Pas-De-Calais region where Ms Le Pen is standing, and in the south-east where her niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen leads the party list, and has urged its supporters to back Nicolas Sarkozy’s Republicans instead to keep the FN out of power. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.

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