Le Pen’s National Front loses election run-offs - exit polls

Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front lost election run-offs on Sunday in three key target regions, despite topping last week’s first round, exit polls showed, making Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservatives and their allies the clear winner in all three.

The result followed the withdrawal of President Francois Hollande's Socialist Party in two of the regions for the decisive run-off round, and its call on supporters to vote tactically to keep the FN out of power.

Sarkozy's Republicans and centre-right allies took 57.5 per cent of the vote in the northern region and the FN 42.5 per cent, the Ifop Fiducial poll for iTELE, Paris Match and Sud Radio showed.

In the southeast, where Le Pen’s niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen was the FN’s lead candidate, the conservatives scored 54.5 per cent and the FN 45.5, the poll said.

Turnout up

The turnout in both regions was more than 61 per cent, up significantly from the first round, the poll showed.

In the eastern region, where the Socialists did not withdraw, the centre right won 48.4 per cent against the FN’s 36.4 per cent, according to a separate poll by TNS Sofres-One Point.

If confirmed, the results would be a huge disappointment for Le Pen, who had hoped to use victories as a springboard for presidential and general elections in 2017.

Results in all of the 13 regions of mainland France were expected later in the evening.

Reuters