Far Right

French Far Right hopes for major gains in European elections

France — Link

Opinion polls and local election victory chart rise of the National Front, whose progress in France mirrors that of nationalist parties elsewhere.

French far-right sweeps to victory in local election

France — Link

Decisive win came despite calls from President François Hollande’s Socialist Party for Left to rally behind conservative UMP candidate.

French far-right in pole position for EU election

France — Link

Poll suggests Marine Le Pen's Front national could get 24% of vote in 2014 Euro elections and become most popular political party in France.

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

France — Link

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

Extreme right? Not us, says France's Le Pen

France — Link

Leader of far-right Front national Marine Le Pen says she will consider legal action against those who label her party as 'extreme right'.

Marseille gang killings give Far Right an election springboard

France — Link

Gangland killings in broad daylight on the streets of Marseille have handed the National Front party a platform to launch its far-right agenda.

Ex-French PM's 'strategic' softening on far right

France — Link

François Fillon causes party row by calling for end to treating the far-right National Front as a political pariah, but analysts see it as merely a tactic.

Revealed: the extreme right-wing links of leading French conservative MP's parliamentary assistant

France

Right-wing MP Hervé Mariton led the parliamentary opposition to the controversial bill on same-sex marriage that recently passed into law. Now Mediapart can reveal that his parliamentary assistant has close links with the extreme right, and even stood as a candidate for a radical far-right group when she was a student. The MP insists he had no idea about the woman's political affiliations when he hired her and says that she is now leaving his employment. Marine Turchi reports on an affair that once again raises the issue of links between the mainstream UMP and the far right in French politics.

France to shut far-right group after student death

France — Link

The group to be shut down, the Revolutionary Nationalist Youths, is the militant wing of a broader far-right movement known as the "Third Way".

After student killing, France bans far-right rally

France — Link

Toulouse's socialist mayor expressed concern about planned torchlight march to commemorate victory of a Christian army in 721 over Muslims.

French anti-gay marriage historian kills himself inside Notre Dame

France — Link

Dominique Venner, 78, shot himself through the mouth at the altar after calling for more radical action in opposition to same-sex marriage.

France takes to the streets as disaffected voters turn to far-right

France — Link

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of France in May Day rallies marked by calls for an end to President Hollande’s austerity policies.

Shining a light on the heartlands of the French far-right

France

While this year’s presidential elections in France saw the first return to power of a socialist administration in 17 years, it also landmarked a significant resurgence of the French Front National (FN) party, whose candidate and leader, Marine Le Pen, scored the highest share of the vote the far-right has ever reached in a presidential poll, attracting more than 6.4 million voters. But behind her national score, Le Pen arrived first-placed among the ten candidates in one out of six municipalities across the country. A French researcher has now completed a study of the populations where Le Pen did best, and his findings contradict a number of clichés about its grass-roots supporters. Michaël Hajdenberg and Mathieu Magnaudeix report.

Marine Le Pen loses battle for anonymity of mayor backers

France — Link

France's Constitutional Court rules that names of mandatory mayoral backers for Far Right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen must be made public.

Hollande slams Sarkozy's 'bad for society' wooing of far-right vote

France — Link

Socialist presidential candidate François Hollande attacks Nicolas Sarkozy for wooing far-right vote and using state ressources on unofficial campaign.