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| Exit Polls in France Show National Front Losing Regional Elections | Exit Polls in France Show National Front Losing Regional Elections |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| PARIS — French voters dealt a sharp setback to the far-right National Front in elections on Sunday, depriving the party of victory in any of the country’s 13 regions, according to projections based on exit polls. | PARIS — French voters dealt a sharp setback to the far-right National Front in elections on Sunday, depriving the party of victory in any of the country’s 13 regions, according to projections based on exit polls. |
| A week after the National Front came out on top in the first round of voting, France sent a far different message, with the party losing even in a northern region where its charismatic leader, Marine Le Pen, had been widely expected to win. | A week after the National Front came out on top in the first round of voting, France sent a far different message, with the party losing even in a northern region where its charismatic leader, Marine Le Pen, had been widely expected to win. |
| The projections also showed the National Front being defeated in another of its strongest areas, in the south around Nice, where Ms. Le Pen’s 26-year-old niece Marion Maréchal Le Pen was on the ballot. | |
| If confirmed when all the votes have been counted, the projected results would confound expectations that the party, with its anti-immigrant, nativist message, was on the verge of an electoral breakthrough that could have added momentum and credibility to Ms. Le Pen’s hopes of winning the presidency in 2017. | If confirmed when all the votes have been counted, the projected results would confound expectations that the party, with its anti-immigrant, nativist message, was on the verge of an electoral breakthrough that could have added momentum and credibility to Ms. Le Pen’s hopes of winning the presidency in 2017. |
| “I salute the voters who responded to the appeal to block the far right,” Prime Minister Manuel Valls of the governing Socialist party said in a speech Sunday night. | “I salute the voters who responded to the appeal to block the far right,” Prime Minister Manuel Valls of the governing Socialist party said in a speech Sunday night. |
| Polling had shown her party getting a strong boost from the terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, and the suspicion that two of the terrorists slipped into Europe with immigrants through Greece. | Polling had shown her party getting a strong boost from the terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, and the suspicion that two of the terrorists slipped into Europe with immigrants through Greece. |
| For weeks the Front and its supporters have boasted that it is France’s leading party, and that the country had become a three-party system: left, right, and — in the Front’s own terminology — nationalist. | For weeks the Front and its supporters have boasted that it is France’s leading party, and that the country had become a three-party system: left, right, and — in the Front’s own terminology — nationalist. |
| But in the end, the results confirmed what an angry Ms. Le Pen herself declared in her concession speech Sunday: France is still a two-party country, those who are for the National Front, and those who are against it. Early results showed both the Socialists and the mainstream-right Republicans each taking five regions, with the others undecided. | But in the end, the results confirmed what an angry Ms. Le Pen herself declared in her concession speech Sunday: France is still a two-party country, those who are for the National Front, and those who are against it. Early results showed both the Socialists and the mainstream-right Republicans each taking five regions, with the others undecided. |
| “We really are in a bi-party system,” Ms. Le Pen told her supporters Sunday. | “We really are in a bi-party system,” Ms. Le Pen told her supporters Sunday. |
| In the northern region where she was on the ballot, Ms. Le Pen managed only about 42 percent of the vote, according to early projections, to the mainstream right’s 57 percent. | In the northern region where she was on the ballot, Ms. Le Pen managed only about 42 percent of the vote, according to early projections, to the mainstream right’s 57 percent. |
| “I thank the voters who have protected our beautiful region,” said the right’s candidate in the north, Xavier Bertrand, who beat Ms. Le Pen. | “I thank the voters who have protected our beautiful region,” said the right’s candidate in the north, Xavier Bertrand, who beat Ms. Le Pen. |
| In the first round of voting last week, the National Front came in first in six of the 13 regions, alarming France’s political and media establishment. With 28 percent of the vote, the far-right party achieved its best result ever, three percentage points better than in European elections last year, its previous best. | In the first round of voting last week, the National Front came in first in six of the 13 regions, alarming France’s political and media establishment. With 28 percent of the vote, the far-right party achieved its best result ever, three percentage points better than in European elections last year, its previous best. |
| Fearing a Front takeover in two regions where Socialist candidates finished third — the north around Lille, where Ms. Le Pen was running, and around Nice, where her niece was the top candidate — the Socialist Party withdrew its candidates for the second round. The hope was that Socialist voters would then block the Front by voting for the mainstream conservative Republicans. | Fearing a Front takeover in two regions where Socialist candidates finished third — the north around Lille, where Ms. Le Pen was running, and around Nice, where her niece was the top candidate — the Socialist Party withdrew its candidates for the second round. The hope was that Socialist voters would then block the Front by voting for the mainstream conservative Republicans. |
| That gamble apparently paid off. | That gamble apparently paid off. |
| In the Alsace-Lorraine eastern region, the Socialist incumbent, Jean-Pierre Masseret, ignored the calls from party headquarters in Paris. Mr, Masseret refused to withdraw despite finishing a distant third, thus opening the way to a possible Front victory. In the end, though, Ms. Le Pen’s chief deputy — the party’s third strong candidate — was also defeated, according to the projections. | In the Alsace-Lorraine eastern region, the Socialist incumbent, Jean-Pierre Masseret, ignored the calls from party headquarters in Paris. Mr, Masseret refused to withdraw despite finishing a distant third, thus opening the way to a possible Front victory. In the end, though, Ms. Le Pen’s chief deputy — the party’s third strong candidate — was also defeated, according to the projections. |