France’s far-right Front National is on track to make significant electoral gains assisted by high abstention in local elections.
By midday on Sunday, fewer than 20% of French voters had turned out at their local polling station. While the rate of abstention halfway through the day was lower than that at the same time in similar elections four years ago, it was a disappointment for the Parti Socialiste government and opposition centre-right UMP. Both had urged voters to participate.
The FN, one of the most popular and populist far-right parties in Europe, has performed well in past votes when the turnout has been low.
Opinion polls carried out in the runup to the election suggested the FN could attract up to 30% of the vote with the UMP close behind and the PS trailing in third place.
The French president, François Hollande, whose party is expected to lose about half the 61 local authorities they currently control, called on people to vote. “Today, the [main] issue is abstention,” he said.
The election will decide the political make-up of local councils in 101 French “départements” or counties, which control essential public sectors including school and social security budgets. Around 43 million people are eligible to vote.
On Sunday, Marine Le Pen, the FN president, told reporters the aim was to show the FN is “a great local force, not just one able to attract millions of French [people] in a national election”.
