THE RIGHT wing National Front (EN) yesterday won the mayor's office in Vitrolles, the fourth French city to be taken over by the extremist movement that wants to expel non European, non Christian immigrants from France.
When the final results - 52.48 per cent for the EN candidate, Mrs Catherine Megret and 47.52 for the outgoing Socialist mayor, Mr Jean Jacques Anglade - were announced at 10.30 p.m., fighting broke out on the square in front of the city hall. Riot police used tear gas to disperse youths who broke shop and car windows. At Mr Anglade's headquarters young beurs - French citizens born of Algerian immigrant parents - could be seen crying. Maghrebin youths had threatened to "burn down the town" if the FN won.
Several thousand EN supporters, some of whom came from as far away as Paris, crowded into the Relais Louisiana Hotel to celebrate Mrs Megret's victory. They cheered wildly and sang La Marseillaise, France's national anthem, when the news was announced. Many had tears in their eyes.
The election marked the first time the front has won a clear majority of votes in 1995, it won the nearby southern cities of Marignane, Orange and Toulon by a plurality of votes. The results also belie the common wisdom that the FN had reached its maximum strength when its founder and leader, Mr Jean Marie Le Pen, won 15 per cent of the French presidential vote in 1995.
Mrs Megret's husband, Bruno, who narrowly lost the mayoral election in 1995, was the de facto candidate. After that election was annulled, Mr Megret was disqualified from standing in the rerun because he overspent on his first campaign. "As a woman, I will be in charge of social affairs," Mrs Megret told The Irish Times as she visited polling stations yesterday. "I will also handle public relations for the city hall." Mr Megret's deputy, Mr Hubert Fayard, will run the dormitory city of 39,000 on a day to day basis, while Mr Megret will continue as national number two in the right wing movement.
The victory consecrates Mr Megret's position as heir apparent to Mr Le Pen. Mr Megret is now favoured to win a seat in next year's national parliamentary elections, when he will be eligible to stand for public office again. The front has not yet sent a deputy to the French National Assembly.
