French regional election run-off tests far-right strength
Updated: 1:40 AM, December 14, 2015
http://www.todayonline.com/world/french-regional-election-tests-far-right-strength?singlepage=true
[snip] “For me, she is going to win. Maybe it will make all those politicians stop and think,” said voter Evelyne Risselin in Le Pen’s electoral home base Henin-Beaumont in northern France... The outcome will depend largely on what left-wing voters will do after the ruling Socialist party withdrew from the race in the two regions where the FN was performing best - the north where Le Pen is a candidate, and the southeast where her niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen is running... “Voters should not be treated like children, nor be terrorized,” a smiling Marine Le Pen told reporters after casting her vote in Henin-Beaumont. The Socialists fear that some of their supporters might stay home rather than go and vote for the party of Sarkozy, who is widely despised by the left... Much attention will also be focused on the northeast Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine region, where the Socialist candidate rejected his party’s call to drop out of the run-offs... [/snip]
Sarkozy feels pressure after election failure
Sam Ball
http://www.france24.com/en/20151207-sarkozy-feels-pressure-after-france-regional-election-failure-national-front
[snip] Since returning to politics as head of Les Republicains a year ago, Sarkozy has gone about stamping his mark on the party. Its name change, from the UMP, came at Sarkozy’s behest and was part of a rebranding exercise that sought to move the party away from the infighting and scandals that had plagued it for years. Sunday’s electoral failure will, therefore, not only be a stick for Sarkozy’s rivals within Les Republicains to beat him with, but a means to call into question the entire direction the party is taking under his leadership... Sarkozy, meanwhile, has taken something of a gamble... Unlike the Socialists, he has refused to countenance pulling candidates out of certain regions in order to block an FN victory... The FN’s success in the regional elections could well provide a springboard for Le Pen to run as a genuine contender in 2017’s presidential vote. Whether Sarkozy will feature among her challengers, on the other hand, is far from assured. [/snip]
Participation up 7% from first round in decisive French regional elections
http://www.france24.com/en/20151213-french-polls-open-national-front-vies-first-regional-win
[snip] President Francois Hollande’s Socialist Party looks set to lose the domination of the regions it won in 2010. Stubbornly high unemployment and a floundering economic recovery have lost the party support across its base. Meanwhile Sarkozy, formerly the indispensible media star of his party, has been a glaring absence on the campaign trail hinting at problems in Les Republicains camp. [/snip]
(not to mention Hollande’s immediate giant tax increase and fed budget cuts)
Civ, It’s all moot now. France has firmly and clearly rejected the ideas and the candidates of the le Pen family and their National Front party.
Obviously, the next important step is to weaken and eliminate the Socialists.