Sarkozy denies far-right Le Pen victory in French local polls

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party and their allies led in the first round of French local elections, exit polls showed yesterday, denying Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front (FN) first place.

If confirmed, the result would be a setback for Le Pen, who had hoped her anti-immigrant, anti-euro party would emerge on top in the first round, boosting her ambitions to win presidential elections set for 2017.

The UMP and its partners together secured 29.2 per cent of the vote nationally, an exit poll by Ifop showed, ahead of the FN on 26.3 per cent. A separate poll by CSA put Sarkozy and his allies on as much as 31 per cent, with the FN on 24.5 per cent.

As expected, President François Hollande’s ruling Socialists came third, with about 20 per cent of the vote, underlining their unpopularity after failed promises to bring unemployment down from the current level of about 10 per cent.

The vote was for local councillors in France's départements, one level in the country's complex, multilayered system of local government. About one in two voters were estimated not to have exercised their franchise.

Despite failing in its ambition to come top in the first round, the score marked strong gains for the FN, which wants a return of the franc and a referendum on capital punishment.

It surfed a wave of disenchantment with established parties to emerge top in last year’s European Parliament elections and won control of a dozen city halls in a separate local government ballot.

However the two-round nature of yesterday's ballot means the FN will win control in only a handful of départements in second-round run-offs due on March 29th. Many UMP and Socialist voters are expected to switch allegiance to whatever party can keep the FN out of power.

(Reuters)