National Front seen losing two contested regions in French election runoffs
- 8 years ago
France's far-right National Front will not garner enough votes in election runoffs to win two key regions where it had come out on top in a first round of voting, a poll showed on Wednesday.
France will hold the runoffs on Sunday.
Marine Le Pen's anti-Europe, anti-immigrant party scored record gains in the first round, driven by fears over the Islamic State attacks in Paris that killed 130 people last month.
The National Front's gains in the first round came largely at the expense of the ruling Socialists, who have called on their candidates to pull out of the elections in the two regions as well as an eastern region to increase the chances of the National Front losing.
The poll found that 77 percent of left-wing voters in the two regions planned on voting for the conservatives and only 14 percent expected to abstain from voting.
France will hold the runoffs on Sunday.
Marine Le Pen's anti-Europe, anti-immigrant party scored record gains in the first round, driven by fears over the Islamic State attacks in Paris that killed 130 people last month.
The National Front's gains in the first round came largely at the expense of the ruling Socialists, who have called on their candidates to pull out of the elections in the two regions as well as an eastern region to increase the chances of the National Front losing.
The poll found that 77 percent of left-wing voters in the two regions planned on voting for the conservatives and only 14 percent expected to abstain from voting.