Hot Issue Nr. 371
2nd round of regional elections in France:
Far right loses in regional runoff elections
Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front collapsed in French regional elections Sunday, failing to take a single region after dominating the first round of voting, pollsters projected. The conservatives surged against the governing Socialists, changing the political map of France. The failure of the National Front to gain any of the six regions where it was leading did not stop the anti-immigration party from looking to the 2017 presidential election — Le Pen's ultimate goal.
 With 40.2 percent of the votes, the conservative party of former President Sarkozy is the clear winner of the second round. The Socialists of President Hollande gained 28.9 percent, and the Front National came in third place with 27.1 percent.
In Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardy, where Le Pen was top candidate with 40.6 percent in the first round, they now had to admit defeat unexpectedly clear with 42.8 percent. After the retreat of the socialist candidate the Republicans Xavier Bertrand reached 57.7 percent. Le Pen won 42.8 percent compared with Bertrand's 57 percent, according to the Interior Ministry.
"We stopped the progression of the National Front," said conservative Xavier Bertrand, who was projected to beat Le Pen in the Nord-Pas de Calais region. The tables turned on Sunday as Bertrand beat Le Pen by nearly 15 points.
Le Pen had been riding high after an unprecedented wave of migration into Europe and extremist attacks Europe, and the party came out on top in the voting in France's 13 newly drawn regions in the first round a week ago.
Le Pen struck an upbeat tone despite the rout, pledging to keep fighting to expand support for her party. She said she would in the coming weeks "rally all the French, of all origins, who want to join us."
The party lost in all of the regions on Sunday, including decisive losses for both Le Pen and her popular niece Marion Maréchal-Le Pen. In the region Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, the 26-year-old Maréchal-Le Pen won 41 percent in the first round but was defeated with 46.5 percent by the conservative candidate Christian Estrosi, who gained 53.5 percent of the votes.
The conservatives were boosted to victory in the two Le Pen races with help from the Socialists who withdrew their candidates, asking voters to give their ballots to the mainstream rival. Turnout rose sharply in the second round, suggesting that many voters wanted to prevent the once-pariah National Front from gaining power.
In all, the conservative Republicans took seven regions, and the Socialists won five, Interior Ministry results showed. Among prizes falling to the conservatives was the Paris region, long a Socialist bastion. A nationalist not affiliated with a major party won Corsica.
Turnout was 7 percent higher than for the previous regional elections in 2010, with 50.5 percent of those eligible to vote casting ballots. The second-round turnout at the same time five years ago was 43. 4 percent. Despite its loss, the National Front sent a message to the French. Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned that the far right remains a "danger" despite the defeat, and urged his country to rally together against extremism.
The National Front has racked up political victories in local elections in recent years, but winning control of any region would have been an unprecedented boost for the party ahead of presidential elections in 18 months. Still, politicians on the left and right said mainstream parties must reassess their priorities.Indeed, the day kicked off the unofficial election season as politicians from all parties cast Sunday's results in terms of their presidential ambitions.
After a reform the country is now divided into 13 instead of 22 regions. There are additional five overseas regions. The newly-established regions received more power from the central government in France regarding economic development, education and employment starting as of January 2016.
Source: http://bigstory.ap.org: - by ELAINE GANLEY and ANGELA CHARLTON
New IRE-Partner:
IRE launches scientific cooperation with University of Belgrad
The IRE starts a new cooperation with the University of Belgrade (Serbia). The Cooperation Agreement includes the exchange of publications, invitations to events and activities and the joint formulation and implementation of projects and concepts with regard to education, science and research.
 The students of Belgrade University will also have the opportunity to complete a four-week internship at IRE headquarter in Salzburg. Interns work on a research paper on a topic related to European or regional policy. The results will be published in the IRE monograph series. Furthermore, the students are included in the daily IRE activities and help us in internal organisational procedures. The University of Belgrade is represented by the Rector Prof. Dr. Vladimir Bumbaširević.
We look forward to a good and fruitful cooperation with the University of Belgrade and the young, motivated academics that will complete their internship with us in 2016.
More information about the University of Belgrade: http://www.bg.ac.rs/en/
Photo: blic.rs
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