06 July 2009
France's extreme-right National Front lost a crucial local election and missed its chance to take its first town council in more than a decade. Jean-Marie Le Pen's party list seemed poised to win the northern town of Hénin-Beaumont, after a convincing victory in the first round of voting. However, in the run-off ballot on Sunday, the left-wing candidate Daniel Duquenne won the mayoralty, defeating the National Front's Steeve Briois.
Duquenne took 52 percent of the vote to defeat Briois, on 48 percent. Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right ruling party UMP had appealed for residents of Hénin-Beaumont to vote for the left in order to defeat the National Front. The Le Pen party later said it would contest the result.
The winning candidate was attacked by a group and sprayed with teargas as he left a party celebrating his victory late Sunday. The National Front has not won control of a town hall in France since local elections in 1995 gave its candidates several councils in the south. The defeat is considered as a setback for Marine Le Pen, the youngest daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, who wants to become head of the party next year when her father, now aged 81, steps down.
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