Jean-Marie Le Pen’s extreme right-wing National Front lost ground in the first round of municipal elections here Sunday. But the party proved it remains a staying force in French political life.
In Paris’ 20th District, in which Le Pen himself ran, he scored over 15 percent of the vote. In the eastern French city of Mulhouse, his candidates scored 21.1. They scored 20.3 percent in Toulon and around 10 percent in major cities such as Marseille, Strasbourg and Lyon.
The National Front lost more than 10 percent of its strength since the last presidential or parliamentary elections. But it presented candidates only in the larger cities, and even there, voters are generally influenced by local personalities and local issues.
It holds the balance, however, in several key races in next Sunday’s runoff elections, in which candidates who won at least 10 percent of the vote in the first round will compete.
Both components of the center-right, the Gaullist Rally for the Republic and the liberal Union for French Democracy, have announced that in spite of Le Pen’s offer, they will refuse to negotiate an alliance with his candidates.
Le Pen called the center-right’s decision “suicidal” and said that if it refuses to negotiate with him, all National Front candidates eligible to run next Sunday will do so, giving in most instances victory to the candidates of the left.
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