Alarm over French far right rise

FRENCH Socialist Francois Hollande edged President Nicolas Sarkozy in the initial round of French presidential elections, with Marine Le Pen finishing with the highest total ever for her extreme right-wing party.

Hollande garnered 28 per cent of the vote to 26 per cent for Sarkozy, the conservative leader, in Sunday’s polling. Hollande and Sarkozy will face off in the second round of the election on May 6. According to the latest polls, Hollande could defeat Sarkozy by a comfortable margin. Le Pen, head of the National Front, the country’s largest extreme right party, won 18.5 per cent of the vote, the highest percentage reportedly ever achieved by the movement.

Her father, National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, won nearly 17 per cent of the vote in 2002 in reaching the second round against Jacques Chirac. The National Front vote tally is alarming, the French Union of Jewish Students said. “Today, more than 7.2 million French citizens have voted for an extreme right candidate who openly preaches hatred,” the union’s president, Jonathan Hayoun, said in a statement. “There already were 5.4 million [who voted for them] in 2002. We are very worried, especially because Marine Le Pen seems to be very popular among young voters.”

The results of the first round were disappointing for far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon and centrist Francois Bayrou. Melenchon earned slightly more than 11 per cent of the first-round votes, falling short of his expectations. Bayrou, who finished third during the last presidential race, did not reach nine per cent this time.

Approximately 80 per cent of the 44.5 million registered voters went to the polls, a high turnout rate but lower than in 2007, when 84 per cent of the electorate participated.

JTA