PARIS (AP) – With no clear-cut victor emerging from France’s regional elections, parties from across the political spectrum now begin unofficial campaigning and jockeying for supremacy before the 2017 presidential race.
The far-right National Front, the front-runner in the first round of the regional vote, was crushed in Sunday’s second round. Despite the defeat, the leader of the anti-immigrant party still has her sights set on the French presidency.
Marine Le Pen hopes to capitalize on fears over Islamic extremism and a surge of migrants into Europe, and on the political horse trading that went on between conservatives and Socialists in the run-up to the regional elections.
The Socialists withdrew their candidates from two regions where Le Pen and her niece were running and asked their supporters to vote for their conservative rival to prevent the National Front from scoring symbolic wins.
This has left the Socialists totally absent from the councils in those two regions. They have also lost the Paris region, which conservative candidate Valerie Pecresse won.