French far right defeated in second round of voting, exit polls show

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front (FN) collapsed in French regional elections Sunday after dominating the first round of voting last week, according to exit polls, failing to take a single region after dominating the first round of voting, pollsters projected. The conservatives surged against the governing Socialists, changing the political map of France.

Le Pen had been riding high after extremist attacks and an unprecedented wave of migration into Europe, and the party came out on top in six of France's 13 newly drawn regions in the first-round vote a week ago. But projections by France's major polling firms suggested that failed to translate into any second-round victories.

"An immediate danger was avoided," left-leaning Catholic daily La Croix wrote in an editorial.

"But if no answers are made to the French people's concerns, the National Front will continue its rise until the presidential election," it said in a front-page headlined: "Defeat for all."

Three polling agencies projected Le Pen and her niece would lose their bids to run two French regions.

Ipsos, Ifop and TNS-Sofres projected that Le Pen won around 42 percent of the vote in the Nord-Pas de Calais region, compared with about 57 percent for conservative Xavier Bertrand.

Le Pen's niece, Marion Marechal-Le Pen, was projected to win about 45 percent in the southern Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region. Conservative Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi was projected to win about 55 percent.

If preliminary results are confirmed, the loss would be a major disappointment for Marine Le Pen, who had hoped to use regional election wins as a springboard for presidential and general elections in 2017. The regional election was seen as a test for its main contenders, President Francois Hollande, former French President NicolasSarkozy and Le Pen.

Despite the predicted defeat, Le Pen pledged to keep fighting to expand support for her party. She said she would in the coming weeks "rally all the French, of all origins, who want to join us." She told supporters after polls closed, saying "nothing can stop us now."

Sarkozy paid "homage" to the voters who turned out for Sunday's runoff elections after skipping the first round. 

But Sarkozy called the calling the strong FN showing a "warning sent to all politicians, ourselves included, in the first round."

"We now have to take the time for in-depth debates about what worries the French, who expect strong and precise answers," he said, citing Europe, unemployment, security and national identity issues.

Aside from immigration concerns, which have been boosting nationalistic parties in other European countries too, FN's rise has been built on deep disaffection with mainstream politics among French voters and a frustration with Francois Hollande's inability to reduce unemployment.

The conservatives were boosted to victory in two Le Pen races with help from the Socialists who withdrew their candidates, asking voters to give their ballots to the mainstream rival. Turnout rose sharply from the first round, suggesting that many voters wanted to prevent the once-pariah FN from gaining power.

In all, the conservative Republicans took seven regions, and the Socialists won five, Interior Ministry results showed.

The polling agencies base their projections on actual vote count in select constituencies. Official results are expected early Monday.

Turnout figures were 7 percent higher than for the previous regional elections in 2010, with 50.4 percent of those eligible to vote casting ballots by 5 p.m., three hours before polls were to close in big cities, according to the Interior Ministry. The second-round turnout at the same time five years ago was 43.4 percent.

Candidates had tried to lure to the ballot box the nearly 50 percent of those who failed to vote in the Dec. 6 first round, and those votes appeared to have been decisive.

The once-powerful Socialist Party, which currently controls all but one of France's regions, came in a poor third place in the first round and pulled out of key races in hopes of keeping the National Front from gaining power. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy's party came in a strong second, and hoped to make substantial gains in Sunday's runoff.

Winning control of any region would have been an unprecedented boost for the National Front — and especially for Le Pen's hopes for the presidency in 2017.

The atmosphere in the hall in Henin-Beaumont where National Front supporters were gathered to watch election results was grim, in stark contrast to a week earlier when Le Pen won more than 40 percent of the vote.

The region where Marine Le Pen was a candidate includes the port city of Calais, a flashpoint in Europe's migrant crisis this year, and which suffers from high unemployment. Bertrand, a former labor minister, is from former President Nicolas Sarkozy's mainstream conservative Republican party.

There was an especially marked jump in turnout Sunday around Calais compared to the first round.

Marechal-Le Pen, 26, is the youngest legislator in France's Parliament. She has delivered hardline messages on migrants and Muslims that outdo her aunt.

The National Front has racked up political victories in local elections in recent years, but winning the most seats in an entire regional council would have been a substantial success.

The election was seen as an important measure of support for Le Pen ahead of 2017 presidential elections.

Marine Le Pen cast her ballot in the northern city of Henin-Beaumont, one of 11 run by the National Front. Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls has called the National Front a "scam" that "fools the French" and a divisive party that could "lead to civil war."

The governing Socialists ordered their candidates to withdraw from the regions where Le Pen and Marechal-Le Pen were running and to vote for the right to block their candidacies. The Socialist candidate refused to pull out in a third region, in the east, where the projections showed the National Front's No. 2, Florian Philippot, losing as well.

Wire services