France’s far-right National Front appears to have made big gains in the first round of regional elections, estimates show. They put the FN ahead in at least six of 13 regions in mainland France, BBC reported. The elections are the first electoral test since last month’s Paris attacks, in which 130 people were killed.
The center-right Republicans party led by former president Nicolas Sarkozy appeared to be in second place ahead of the governing Socialist Party. A second round of voting will be held on 13 December. As the results became clear, the Socialist party said it was withdrawing from the second round in at least two regions, in the north and the south, to try to block a runoff victory for the FN. Exit polls from Sunday’s vote predicted that the FN had won 30.8% of the vote, followed by Sarkozy’s Republicans on 27.2% and President Francois Hollande’s Socialists with 22.7%.
