The far-right National Front party failed to win a municipal election in a former coal mining town in northern France yesterday despite earlier expectations that it might take power.
The National Front, whose candidates included Marine Le Pen, daughter of party leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, clinched 47.6 per cent after voters rallied around Daniel Duquenne, who represented several leftist groups.
Mr Duquenne took 52.4 per cent of the vote. In the first round of the vote in Henin-Beaumont, which suffers from high unemployment, the National Front had led with 40 per cent.
Mr Duquenne had trailed far behind with around 20 per cent, while Socialist candidate Pierre Ferrari had emerged with 17 per cent in that first round.
“We have lost,” National Front spokesman Bruno Bilde told Reuters shortly before the official result was announced.
Reacting on BFM television, Henri Guaino, special adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy, welcomed the outcome. “The voters of Henin-Beaumont have chosen and they have chosen well,” he said.
Had the National Front won, Henin-Beaumont would have become the only town hall of significant size under National Front control. Many across France have been worried about the prospect of the party gaining a northern bastion after it lost power in a number of towns with more than 5,000 dwellers since the late 1990s.
The election in Henin-Beaumont was triggered after the former Socialist mayor resigned in a funding scandal, hurting the party’s reputation.
National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen shocked France by finishing second in the 2002 presidential vote.
But his party has been in decline since a disappointing performance in the 2007 presidential elections, and Mr Sarkozy has successfully drawn away supporters by taking a tough line on immigration and crime.
The party also performed poorly in the June 7th European Parliament elections. – (Reuters)