PARIS—French voters are casting ballots Sunday for regional leaders in an unusually tense security climate, expected to favor conservative candidates and strike a new blow against the governing Socialists.
Islamic State-inspired attacks on Paris Nov. 13 and a Europe-wide migrant crisis this year have shaken up France’s political landscape.
Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Front is hoping the two-round voting that starts Sunday will consolidate political gains she has made in recent years—and strengthen its legitimacy as she prepares to seek the presidency in 2017.
The unpopular Socialist President Francois Hollande has seen his approval ratings jump since the Paris attacks, as he intensified French airstrikes on Islamic State (ISIS) targets in Syria and Iraq and ordered a state of emergency at home. But his party, which currently runs nearly all of France’s regions, has seen its electoral support shrivel in recent years amid economic disappointment.
Voters are choosing leadership for the country’s 13 newly redrawn regions in elections that start Sunday and go to a second round Dec. 13.
