Vote blunts rise of France's far-right National Front

France’s conservatives took first place in Sunday's first-round elections for 2,000 local departments, blunting the rise of Marine Le Pen and the far-right National Front.

Before the elections, France's governing Socialists urged people to vote, even if it meant that Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) would be the victor. The Socialists did not expect to do well but were concerned about the rise of Le Pen's right-wing party.

Initial projections gave the UMP 31 percent of the vote compared to 24.5 percent for the National Front and 19.7 percent for the Socialists and their allies. Turnout was 51 percent, compared with about 45 percent in the same elections in 2011.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls praised the far-right party's defeat. "This evening, the extreme right, even it is too high, is not at the forefront of French politics," Valls said. "When we mobilize the French, it works."

Le Pen’s name was not on the ballots, but her National Front is trying to build a grassroots army of local officials to buttress her presidential ambitions in 2017.

France's departmental elections are held in two rounds, so a victory on Sunday determines which candidates can contest a second vote on March 29.

The Socialists, which control the majority of the departments, are deeply unpopular after the government's failure to turn around France's economy. Both they and the UMP are torn by infighting, leaving the National Front something of an open field for the first round.

But both the Socialists and UMP, normally rivals, have issued dire warnings about France's future under a resurgent National Front, whose opposition to immigration, support of restrictions that keep Muslims from practicing their religion in the public sphere, and critique of the European Union has helped transform the party from a pariah under Le Pen's father.

Jockeying ahead of the second round started moments after the first-round results came in. Valls essentially called for voters to choose anyone running against a National Front candidate. Sarkozy, who is also eyeing the 2017 presidential race for a comeback, told supporters to abstain in the second round if a UMP candidate wasn't running.

And Le Pen demanded Valls' resignation for “trying to lead a campaign against the people, a filthy and violent campaign that stigmatized millions of French voters.”

One outcome is certain: half of those elected will be women, following a new French law that requires gender parity on the ballot. Instead of voting for individual candidates, the ballots contain tickets — one man, one woman — in order to overcome years of failed efforts to get more women into government. Currently, only 16 percent of council members are women.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press