French Voters Just Responded To Paris Attacks In A Way Being Called

Polls suggest that after the December 13 second round, Le Pen’s National Front could win control of two regions for the first time: Nord-Pas de Calais in the far north and Provence Cote-d’Azur in the south.

France is still recovering from the devastating attacks last month which saw 130 people killed. President Francois Hollande has seen his personal ratings surge as a result of his hardline approach since the attacks, but his Socialist Party has languished behind the FN and the centre-right Republicans.

In advance of Sunday’s run-off election that will decide the final results, the Socialists said that they will start withdrawing candidates in certain regions to ensure a united opposition to the National Front.

The Socialist party is putting up a “barricade” to the far-right where it is far behind, party chief Jean-Christophe Cambadelis said.

Her father is Jean Marie Le Pen, who founded the National Front, and served as its outspoken leader for close to 40 years.

Maréchal-Le Pen is seen as more ideological than her aunt. Party leader Marine Le Pen has been a vocal opponent of the European Union since its creation in 1993. Since then is seems more, rather than less, likely she will top the first round of France’s presidential elections in 2017.

Under French regional election rules, all candidates with more than 10% are eligible for next Sunday’s second round.

“We must stop subsidizing the reception of migrants, we must defend our local artisans”, Philippot said to French satellite channel BFM TV.

Far right National Front party regional leader for southeastern France, Marion Marechal-Le Pen speaks during a meeting with supporters, after the first round of the regional elections, in Carpentras, southern France, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015.

According to estimates by the French interior ministry, the National Front led the first round with 28 percent of the vote, while Nicolas Sarkozy’s center-right alliance – now called The Republicans – claimed 27 percent. “We think the best way to oppose the National Front is by taking our seats in the regional assembly”, he said.

The Times added that with all of the votes counted, turnout nationwide was approximately 50%, which is somewhat higher than the percentage of voters who came out during the last regional election in 2010.

When it emerged that at least two of the attackers had entered Europe posing as migrants, the FN went to town with a message of “we told you so”.

But his rising popularity hasn’t filtered through to his party at the ballot box.

One Socialist expected to win is Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, a popular choice in the northwestern Brittany region. More hard is “transforming itself into pole position in round two”.