Marine Le Pen’s party got a spectacular win with 27-30% of the national vote, the highest the party has ever scored in a local election.
“This is a historic, extraordinary result,” FN lawmaker Marion Marechal-Le Pen (granddaughter of party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen and niece of party leader Marine) told France’s TF1. She won above 40% and could win control of the southern region of Provence–Alpes-Côte d’Azur, which includes some of the richest areas in France. “The old system died tonight.”
Marine Le Pen also admitted it was a “magnificent result” welcomed with “humility, seriousness and a deep sense of responsibility,” Le Figaro quoted her as saying.
“We are without question the first party of France,” she added.
At a recent rally, Maréchal-Le Pen said Muslims could not be French unless they “yield to the manners and our way of life” inherited from France’s Christian traditions. Far more socially conservative than her aunt, she has vowed to stop state funding to family planning centres if elected head of the region, accusing them of “making abortion commonplace”.
This vote could change the political landscape in France, making it a three-way race as it gears up for the presidential elections after decades of domination by te Socialists. French regions control local transport and economic development as well as high schools and vocational training, with beefed-up powers after a reform that redrew the map of France and cut their numbers from 22 to 13.
The vote was the first time an election in France had been held under a state of emergency. Security was stepped up at polling stations, with thousands of police and soldiers patrolling in Paris and security guards checking voters’ bags.
Yoana
South Front
