A week after finishing in first place in the first round of the French regional elections, leading in six regions, the National Front (FN) finds itself in control of … none, while the right-wing Republicans secured seven, and the Socialists five. The “system,” as party leader Marine Le Pen likes to call it, has done its job.
And yet the far-right party can take a great deal of satisfaction from the second round. Its final total of 6.8 million votes is an improvement of 700,000 on the first round, and 400,000 more than it won at the 2012 presidential election.
The old tactic of 'republican defense'—when left and right put their differences aside to block the path of enemies of the republic—has worked once again.
