The far-right National Front’s high score in regional elections should be a warning to all mainstream politicians, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Sunday (December 13) after exit polls showed the National Front had failed to win any regions.
Tactical voting by Socialist voters kept Marine Le Pen’s National Front out of power in its three main target regions in French regional elections on Sunday, handing power in all of them to the conservatives of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, exit polls showed.
Supporters at Sarkozy’s “Les Republicains” party cheered the news that no region had gone to the FN.
“It (the first round results) was due to those who abstained to vote, it was very close, we needed to wait for the second round for more voters than in the first round, it’s really what made the difference,” said one supporter, Lucien.
Le Pen’s far-right, anti-immigration FN won more votes than any other party nationally in last week’s first round, boosted by fears about security and immigration after the attacks in Paris a month ago that killed 130 people.
“This mobilisation in favour of our candidates should in no way let us forget the warning sent to all politicians, ourselves included, in the first round of those regional elections,” he said.
Sarkozy’s The Republicans and center-right allies took 57.5 percent of the vote in the northern region, where Le Pen was standing, against her 42.5 percent, the Ifop Fiducial poll for iTELE, Paris Match and Sud Radio showed.
“We now have to take the time for in-depth debates about what worries the French – who expect strong and precise answers,” he said, citing Europe, unemployment, security and identity issues.
He was speaking after exit polls showed the far-right National Front had lost election run-offs in at least three key regions, despite topping last week’s first round.
“It’s a victory for the republic and Nicolas Sarkozy has very well understood what the French want, we have many things to look at, so that’s why he (Sarkozy) said he would review his programme so as to have a coherent programme for 2017 and for all the French,” said one supporter Danielle after Sarkozy spoke.
Party insiders say Sarkozy had hoped a few months ago to score landslide victories in about 10 of the 13 regions, and had been planning to use this success to overhaul the party more to his liking. (Reuters)