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French govt left reeling by far right 'warning shot' in vote

Left candidate eliminated in first round as Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front top the polls in local council by-election.

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France's ruling Socialist Party expressed dismay Monday after two far right candidates came within a whisker of claiming 50 percent of the vote in a local by-election, reports GlobalPost.

In a result that reflected the extreme right's rising popularity, the representative of the Front National (FN) got 40.4 percent of votes in the first round of Sunday's by-election in the southeastern town of Brignoles while an independent extreme right candidate won 9.1 percent.

The result came in an area where the far right has traditionally done well but it was nevertheless seen as symbolically significant.

The FN's support has been rising nationwide with recent opinion polls suggesting it could take around 16 percent of votes in municipal elections scheduled for next March.

Read more of this AFP report published by GlobalPost.

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