AP
PARIS — France’s far-right National Rally party led in the first round of regional elections in an important battleground region on Sunday, exit polls indicated, but the party performed worse elsewhere than many surveys had predicted.
With presidential elections less than a year away, pre-election surveys showed Marine Le Pen’s party leading in regional council elections in as many as six of mainland France’s 12 regions. But exit polls on Sunday evening showed it narrowly ahead only in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region around Marseille, the country’s second-biggest city.
“Our voters did not come out,” Le Pen said Sunday night. She urged her supporters to mobilize for the second round next Sunday.
A second-round win in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur next week would be the first such victory for the far right in France.
Le Pen’s party has attempted to portray itself as part of a recalibrated political mainstream, but it has struggled to convince voters that it is up to the task of governing. Being in charge of a French region could shift attitudes in its favor, analysts say.
National Rally officials had hoped that Sunday’s results would build broader momentum for the upcoming presidential campaign, but low voter turnout mostly benefited the center-right Republicans party, which won around 29 percent of the vote nationally, according to an Ipsos exit poll. National Rally received around 19 percent. La République En Marche, the party founded by President Emmanuel Macron, took about 10 percent of the vote and didn’t lead in any of the 12 mainland regions.
Sunday’s results could be an early warning sign for Macron ahead of the presidential election. Polls predict a narrow runoff between Le Pen and Macron. But analysts cautioned that the vote should not be interpreted as a precise barometer of the country’s political views.
Two-thirds of voters abstained Sunday, according to an exit poll by France’s public broadcaster, up from half in 2015. Macron’s party lacks an established infrastructure in many regions, which could help to explain his party’s weak performance.
Christian Hartmann
Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron at a polling station Sunday in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage.
Unlike the United States, France has a highly centralized political system; regional elections have rarely captivated the country. But with the potential impact on the presidential race looming over this year’s vote, national issues have dominated the debate to a greater degree than in previous years.
Le Pen’s party has attempted to portray Macron as weak on security and immigration. Macron has launched multiple efforts to appeal to right-wing voters who share Le Pen’s criticism. He has demanded more action to deport undocumented migrants, and his government has pushed a series of controversial bills through Parliament to expand police and surveillance powers.
[Man appears to slap French President Macron at public event]
Sunday’s vote cast some doubts on Macron’s ability to compete for support from the French right. In the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, Macron’s party opted to support the center-right Republicans party candidate in the hope of fending off the far right.
But with the far right still hoping to win in the region next weekend, some are questioning whether the Republicans would be a better fit for an alliance with the far right than with Macron’s party.
“It is clear that the Republicans are very torn between those who are closer to Emmanuel Macron and the presidential majority and those who are closer to the National Rally,” said Gilles Ivaldi, a researcher with the French National Center for Scientific Research. He said a National Rally victory in the region could create a testing ground for an alliance between the center right and the far right.
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