National Front -- Gains in France

http://tinyurl.com/ybkc76q


Final results for the country's 22 mainland regions showed the Socialists on 29.5 per cent, Sarkozy's UMP on 26.2 per cent and the National Front taking nearly 12 per cent.

With no single party winning an outright majority, the poll now moves to a second round of voting on March 14, in which competing parties will be able to form political alliances.

...

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, appeared jubilant on national television, holding up a poster banned by a court that read "No to Islamism" and declaring that his party's future was bright.

Le Pen's party is now set to take its anti-immigrant message into the second round of the election, where it is campaigning in twelve of the French regions.

...
The Socialists will now seek to forge alliances ahead of round two and are likely to garner backing from the Europe Ecologie green party, which picked up 12.5 per cent of the vote.

Sarkozy's party faces a continued challenge from the National Front in the next round.
The success of the far-right weakened the UMP's campaign in several regions and allowed the Socialists to pick up votes.

"The National Front was declared beaten, dead, buried by the president," Le Pen said late on Sunday.

"This shows that it is still a national force, and probably destined to become greater and greater."