Far-right eyes big gains in French regional elections

France’s far-right National Front (FN) is widely predicted to take a step towards gaining control of at least one region for the first time, as polls opened Sunday three weeks after jihadist attacks in Paris left 130 people dead. About 44 million people are eligible to vote, with France under tight security and in a state of emergency following the country’s worst-ever terror attacks, which have thrust the FN’s anti-immigration and often Islamophobic message to the fore. First projections are expected at 1900 GMT with FN leader Marine Le Pen on course to top the poll in the economically-depressed Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie region in the north, once a bastion of the left.

After the Nov. 13 attacks we saw a clear increase in support for the National Front. Everything is adding up for (it) to make an unprecedented score.

Ifop pollster analyst Jerome Fourquet

President Francois Hollande, who will cast his vote Sunday morning in Evry, to the south of Paris, has seen his personal ratings surge as a result of his hardline approach since the Paris attacks. However his Socialist party has not enjoyed a similar boost, and is languishing at around 22% of the vote. The FN is also expected to compete for power in the eastern Alsace-Champagne-Ardennes-Lorraine region that borders Belgium and Germany, according to polls by Ipsos and Odoxa. Analysts predicted the FN could take all three regions in the second round on December 13 – if traditional parties refuse to join forces against them.

Politics France elections