French prime minister praises far-right defeat at local vote

French far-right leader and National Front Party, Marine Le Pen speaks on the phone after a news conference at party headquarters, Sunday, March 22, 2015, in Nanterre, western France. For Le Pen, today's election for more than 2,000 local councils is an important step in building a grassroots base critical to her ultimate goal: the 2017 presidency. Local elections takes place today and the second round on March 29. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon) French far-right leader and National Front Party, Marine Le Pen speaks on the phone after a news conference at party headquarters, Sunday, March 22, 2015, in Nanterre, western France. For Le Pen, today's election for more than 2,000 local councils is an important step in building a grassroots base critical to her ultimate goal: the 2017 presidency. Local elections takes place today and the second round on March 29. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

By Associated Press March 23, 2015 1 min read

PARIS (AP) – French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has praised the defeat of the far- right National Front in first-round local elections, and minimized the significance of the third-place finish of his own Socialist party.

The National Front was second in Sunday’s vote with 25 percent, behind the conservative UMP party and its allies with 29 percent. Socialists and their allies had 21.5 percent, according to the Interior Ministry’s official results.

Valls, speaking Monday on radio RTL, said he was “pleased in some way” to observe that the National Front’s support was not as high as expected.

He called for all leftist candidates, including communists and environmentalists, to unite with the Socialists for the second round next Sunday.