MOSCOW, September 29 (RIA Novosti) — France’s far right National Front, an anti-immigration Eurosceptic party led by Marine Le Pen, has won two seats in the Senate, the upper house of parliament, BBC reports.
“It’s the first time that we are entering the Senate and in a nice way, with two senators,” Le Pen said, calling the victory historic.
The National Front showed strong results in the municipal elections in March, garnering 7 percent. However, its major achievement came in May, when the party came first receiving 25 percent of the vote in the elections for the European Parliament.
Naturally, the party eyes top job in the country. “Now there is only one more door to push open, that of the Elysee (presidential palace),”Stephane Ravier, one of the two triumphant National Front candidates, said, as quoted by France 24. If opinion polls are to be trusted, this could be within the realm of possibility. In early September, the Telegraph reported that Marine Le Pen would beat Hollande in the presidential election if it were held at the time.
The National Front’s success is part of a larger trend in French politics – conservative parties are gaining popularity. As a result, the center-right Union for a Popular Movement (UPM) and its ally UDI won an absolute majority in the Senate in what is seen as the latest blow to Francois Hollande and the ruling Socialist party.
The Socialists gained control of the Senate, dominated by the conservatives since 1958, three years ago for the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic, but lost it now in total disarray. Only 43 percent supported the Socialists in the recent municipal elections and Hollande is the most unpopular president in French history. For its part, UPM scored a sweeping victory receiving 48 percent of the vote in March.
Moreover, this month former president Nicolas Sarkozy announced that he returns to politics as the UPM leader reinforcing the party’s position. “I am a candidate to be president of my political family,” Sarkozy wrote on Facebook adding that he wants to “offer the French people a new political choice”. The conservative politician is widely expected to take part in the 2017 presidential election.
The 348-seat Senate is elected by 88,000 regional and local elected officials. It has less power than the National Assembly but it can block amendments to the constitution and demand revision of the legislation.
