Right-wing National Front triumphs in French regional elections

France’s far-right National Front saw record gains in the first round of regional elections on December 6 – a vote held under a state of emergency just three weeks after Islamic extremists killed 130 people in Paris.

A day after an “historic” victory of Marine Le Pen’s Front National in the first round of regional elections in France, CRIF, the umbrella representative group of French Jewish institutions has called on voters to block the extreme right party in the second round next Sunday.

The National Front “is the only (party) that defends an authentic French republic, a republic with only one vocation: the national interest, the development of French employment, the conservation of our way of life, the development of our tradition and the defense of all the French”, Le Pen said Sunday night in Lille.

President Hollande has seen his personal ratings surge on the back of his hardline approach since the Paris carnage, but his party is being punished for a jobless total of around three million.

However, Nicolas Sarkozy, who leads the centre-right Republicans, has ruled out a similar tactic for his party in the second round.

The National Front led in six of the 12 regions of mainland France, The Republicans in four and the Socialists in two.

The final result will be decided in a second-round vote on Sunday.

The far-right has been steadily gaining traction in France over the past few years as Ms Le Pen has continued its strident nationalism, while purging some of the party’s least savoury elements.

Sarkozy, who is head of The Republicans nationally and is preparing for another run at the presidency, appealed to National Front voters to consider his party when they return to the polls next week.

Jacques Sapir, Director of Studies at the French School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences told Sputnik that Le Pen could win in the first round of presidential election, however French political system would allow her rivals to achieve victory in the second one.

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

The polls were held under tight security following the country’s worst-ever terror attacks, which have thrust the FN’s anti-immigration and often Islamophobic message to the fore.

Though Le Pen has attempted to steer her party away from some of its more extreme rhetoric of the past, she has been typically uncompromising on the immigration issue.

Marine Le Pen stood in Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, an economically depressed northern region that used to be a Socialist stronghold.

But in two regions – the north and on the Cote d’Azur – the National Front has smashed the opposition.