Why far-right Front national were the real winners of France's latest by-election
The right-wing UMP has won the country's most recent parliamentary by-election. But the party who have most to celebrate are the far-right Front national whose candidate came close to winning a seat that was once a socialist stronghold, picking up a massive 7,000 votes between the first and second rounds of voting. The FN's strong showing has now cast doubt over the Socialist Party's policy of supporting more moderate right-wing candidates when they are in head-to-head electoral contests with far-right politicians, forming what is known as a 'republican front'. Mathieu Magnaudeix, Marine Turchi and Stéphane Alliès report on the fallout from a high-profile campaign and on the future of such election pacts in the future.
TheThe surge in support for the far-right Front national, who narrowly failed to win a high-profile parliamentary by-election on Sunday, has led to considerable soul-searching among mainstream political parties in France. Though the right-wing UMP's Jean-Louis Costes won the second and decisive round at Villeneuve-sur-Lot in the Lot-et-Garonne, south-west France, with 53.76% of the vote, the FN's candidate Etienne Bousquet-Cassagne attracted a sizeable 46.24% share of the electorate. “We have to draw the lessons from this vote, and from the first and second round [results],” said President François Hollande from Jordan where he was on an official visit.
