6.5 Million Votes and Counting, Front National Gets Zero Seats, But Record Support

BREITBART.COM: Amongst the celebrations by the mainstream media and political establishment, you would be forgiven for thinking that the Front National crashed horrendously during today’s second round of French regional elections. Nothing could be further from the truth.

While it will sting that Marine Le Pen’s party didn’t manage to pick up any regional seats, a lot of this is down to the political establishment’s games over the past few weeks, where they’ve formed unofficial coalitions, stood down candidates for each other, and rolled out religious and community figures to effectively threaten voters with a view of what a Front National France would look like. » | Raheem Kassam | Sunday, December 13, 2015

France: Marion Le Pen Fails to Secure Regional Vote

Front National's Marion Le Pen thanked her supporters in Marseille on Sunday, following the party's defeat in the second round of the French regional elections.

National Front Loses in 2nd Round of French Regional Elections – Exit Polls

France’s far-right National Front party, headed by Marine Le Pen, has failed to win a single region in the second round of the country’s regional elections after a solid victory in the first round, several exit polls have shown.

Zweite Runde bei Frankreichs Regionalwahlen

SCHWEIZER RADIO UND FERNSEHEN: Front National scheitert in allen Regionen: In Frankreich konnte die rechtsextreme Partei keine der insgesamt 13 Regionen erobern. Nach der zweiten Runde der Regionalwahlen zeigen erste Nachwahlbefragungen: Die Partei von Marine Le Pen landet auf dem dritten Platz, hinter den Konservativen und den Sozialisten. » | sda/afp/reutes/kurn; | Sonntag, 13. Dezember 2015

French Far Right National Front 'Routed' in Key Vote

BBC: France's far-right National Front (FN) has failed to win a single region in the second round of elections, exit polls indicate.

Early results suggest the party has been beaten into third place, despite leading in six of 13 regions in the first round of votes a week ago.

The polls predict Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right Republicans will win most seats ahead of the ruling Socialists.

Acknowledging defeat, FN leader Marine Le Pen pledged to keep fighting.

And she blamed the outcome on the mainstream parties which joined forces to keep the FN from power, telling her supporters they had been "disenfranchised in the most indecent of ways by a campaign of lies and disinformation". (+ video) » | Sunday, December 13, 2015

French Should Not Feel Guilty About Voting Front National, Says Le Pen

Head of the Front National party Marine Le Pen makes a final plea for support to voters on Thursday before the second round of regional elections. Le Pen topped the first round in Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie with over 40 percent of the votes. On the Beau-Marais estate, which was once a communist stronghold, one polling station saw Le Pen take 70% of the vote

Inside Story: What's Behind the Success of France's Far-Right Party?

French political landscape changing after big victory for the National Front in regional elections.

Front National's Election Triumph Leaves Mainstream Parties Reeling

THE GUARDIAN: Socialists say they will withdraw candidates and urge tactical voting to see off Marine Le Pen’s party, but Les Républicains rule out alliances


French mainstream politicians have struggled to come up with a response to what one analyst described as the “major hangover” of a historic victory by the Front National in the first round of regional elections.

While the far-right had been predicted to do well, the FN’s record score of almost 28% of the national vote and first place in six of the country’s 13 regions by Sunday night left the traditional parties reeling.

The governing Socialist party came third as expected, but analysts agreed on Monday that the main loser was the centre-right opposition party Les Républicains, led by the former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

The Socialists announced they would withdraw their candidates in regions where the party was trailing and urge supporters to vote tactically to form a “Republican front” to see off the Front National in the second round this coming Sunday.

But the instruction issued by the party headquarters in Paris was defied by the Socialist candidate in the Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine region, who came third but announced he would stand for the second round anyway. » | Kim Willsher in Paris | Monday, December 7, 2015

«Die französische Bevölkerung will etwas Neues ausprobieren»

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A Spectacular Result for Marine Le Pen and France’s Far Right

THE ECONOMIST: In the first round, the migrant crisis helps the National Front to its best ever results

THE spectacular first-round result achieved by the far-right National Front (FN) in Sunday’s regional elections in France is a sobering reminder of the dark political mood in Europe today. As the continent grapples with the aftershocks of terror in Paris and its greatest migrant influx in modern history, Marine Le Pen’s party pulled off its best-ever national score on December 6th. It secured an estimated 27-30% of the nationwide vote, beating its previous record of 25% at last year’s elections to the European Parliament, and nearly tripling its haul at the previous regional vote, in 2010.

The FN, which has never governed a region, now leads in no fewer than six out of 13 contests after the first round. Most startling of all, Ms Le Pen took an estimated 40-43% of the vote in coming top in the region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, according to exit polls. Her niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, got an estimated 41-42% in the southern region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. The one region that defied the trend was Ile-de-France, around Paris, where the FN has long had difficulties; there, it trailed in third place. Voters will return to the ballot box on December 13th for a run-off.

…

Yet the FN had been upsetting France’s traditional two-party dominance, and entrenching itself as a serious player, long before these latest crises, thanks to a methodical effort by Ms Le Pen to “disinfect” the FN brand, shed its anti-Semitism and make it a respectable party ready to govern. Today, voters are turning to Ms Le Pen as much because of disillusion at unkept promises by successive governments over the economy and jobs, and because of a sense that only she stands up for ordinary folk. It is no coincidence that the two regions where the FN did best are also those with the highest rates of unemployment. The mainstream left and right will need more than just pious admonishments if they are to curb the FN. The more they urge voters to do whatever it takes to stop Ms Le Pen’s party, the better the FN seems to do. Read the whole article here » | Sunday, December 6, 2015

France's Front National Is No Long[er] the Pariah Party

THE TELEGRAPH: Far-Right party capitalises on fears of terrorism and immigrants as French political landscape is turned upside down


The Front National has long been considered a fringe party – a troublesome protest grouping of xenophobes, bigots constituting something of a danger to the French Republic.

Yet on Sunday night, almost a third of those who turned out to vote in regional elections chose the far-Right party, placing it in pole position in at least six regions. The FN is a mere protest party no more.

In the latest political earthquake for France, the country now finds itself with a tripartite political landscape where the FN is no longer a mere troublemaker but can hold its own against the mainstream Right and Left, and increasingly, beat them. That has ominous implications for the resurgent far-Right across Europe. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Monday, December 7, 2015

Front National profitiert vom Misstrauen

Die Regionalwahlen am Sonntag in Frankreich sind die ersten Wahlen nach den Terroranschlägen von Mitte November. Wie keine andere Partei profitiert der Front National davon, dass in Frankreich nur zwei Themen debattiert werden: die Sicherheit und die Flüchtlingskrise.

Far Right Gains: National Front Winning in Some Regional Elections in France

Front National Wins Opening Round in France's Regional Elections

THE GUARDIAN: Marine Le Pen’s party capitalises on Paris attacks to win 27-30% of national vote, the highest the party has ever scored in a local election

The far-right Front National has made historic gains in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, emerging as the winner in the opening round of regional elections and coming top in half of France’s regions.

The projected score is the highest vote that the anti-immigration, anti-European party has ever registered in a local election and, if the party maintains the strong lead in in next week’s second round, it could reshape the country’s political landscape.

The FN, which pushed a hardline stance on Islam, security and national identity, saw a poll boost in the wake of the Paris attacks three weeks ago in which Islamic State gunmen killed 130 at Paris bars, the Bataclan concert hall and in a suicide bombing outside the Stade de France. » | Angelique Chrisafis in Paris | Sunday, December 6, 2015

Regionalwahlen: Frankreich rückt nach rechts

Freude beim Marine Le Pen: Die Front National-Chefin zieht
sich schon vor dem zweiten Wahlgang als Siegerin

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Gezeitenwechsel in Frankreich: Mit dem Vormarsch des Front National bei den Regionalwahlen wird die V. Republik zum Drei-Parteien-System. Und beschreibt auch ideologisch eine Wende nach rechts.

Eine Gewinnerin, sonst vor allem Verlierer: Am Abend der ersten Runde der französischen Regionalwahlen kann Marine Le Pen jubilieren. "Frankreich erhebt seinen Kopf", so die Chefin des Front National (FN), am frühen Abend: "Die nationale Bewegung ist damit die erste Partei Frankreichs."

Tatsächlich liegt der FN nach den Hochrechnungen nicht nur in Madame Le Pens Wahlregion Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie mit fast 42 Prozent an der Spitze; ihre Nichte Marion Maréchal-Le Pen könnte mit einem gleichen Ergebnis beim zweiten Durchgang die Gegend Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur erobern. Und zwei weitere FN-Promis führen im Elsass-Lothringen und im Langedoc-Roussion Midi-Pyrénées.

Der Front National hat sich mit fast 30 Prozent landesweit vor alle anderen Formationen geschoben und liegt in 6 von 13 Regionen vorn: Ein Erdbeben, das die politische Landschaft Frankreichs gründlich umgestalten wird. Von jetzt an findet das Rennen um die Wählergunst zwischen drei Blöcken statt - den Linken/Grünen, den Konservativen/Zentristen und den Rechtsextremen des FN. » | Von Stefan Simons, Paris | Sonntag, 6. Dezember 2015

Régionales 2015 : "un résultat magnifique" (Marine Le Pen)

A l'issue des résultats du premier tout des élections régionales, Marine Le Pen, chef de file de l'extrême-droite et qui arrive en tête dans la région Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, a salué "un résultat magnifique que nous accueillons avec humilité". "Nous avons vocation à réaliser l'unité nationale dont le pays a besoin", a-t-elle déclaré.

Marine Le Pen Interview: 'The New Anti-Semitism Is Linked to Islamic Fundamentalism' (2012)

The leader of the rightwing party Front National is attempting to change the image of party in France. Marine Le Pen elaborates her views on anti-Semitism and discusses her political plans in an exclusive interview with JN1.

The Power of Le Pen - BBC, Our World

Le Monde dénonce l'«imposture» du Front national

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Un édito du directeur du quotidien français Le Monde fustige le Front national ; une première, à deux jours des régionales.

Le quotidien Le Monde a pris position vendredi contre le Front national, son directeur Jérôme Fenoglio dénonçant dans un éditorial une «imposture» qui «constitue une grave menace pour le pays».

Les hebdomadaires L'Express et L'Obs ont également publié cette semaine des éditos contre le FN. Lundi, c'était le grand quotidien régional La Voix du Nord qui avait pris position contre une éventuelle élection de Marine Le Pen à la tête de la région Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie.

A deux jours du premier tour des régionales, le Front national est en tête des intentions de vote dans les derniers sondages, avec 29,5% des voix, devant Les Républicains (28,5%) et le PS (23%).

Soulignant la montée du Front national d'élection en élection, «avec la présidentielle de 2017 en ligne de mire», Le Monde affirme que «son idéologie, ses propositions sont contraires aux valeurs républicaines, à l'intérêt national, à l'image de la France dans le monde». » | afp/nxp | vendredi 4. Décembre 2015

Marine Le Pen's Front National Makes Political Gains after Paris Attacks

THE GUARDIAN: Far-right party poised to win two regions for first time as it reaps electoral advantage from France’s fear of Islamists and migrants

Looking out across hundreds of flag-waving supporters at a rally in the northern city of Lille, the far-right leader Marine Le Pen told the crowd that the Front National was the only party that could reassure France in this moment of “infinite sadness”.

The death of 130 people in the Paris terrorist attacks was, she claimed, the result of government inaction, lies, and, above all, its “crazy, undiscerning immigration policy”. The Socialist president, François Hollande, who had declared France’s war on terrorism was “a war chief who hasn’t even got the measure of the enemy!” she boomed. Only 10 months after the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and a Paris kosher supermarket left 17 dead, the government had failed to protect French people from another attack and was “more than just responsible!” she cried. The crowd stamped their feet and roared support, chanting “Hollande resign! Hollande resign!”

The political fallout of the Paris terror attacks looks likely to shake France’s Socialist government this Sunday when the country votes in the first round of key regional elections. Even though Hollande has seen his popularity rise since the attacks, this has not helped his wider party and its candidates. Instead, it is Le Pen’s far-right Front National that stands to make the most gains at the ballot box. » | Angelique Chrisafis in Lille | Tuesday, December 1, 2015