Front National still dangerous

In the second round of France's cantonal elections the conservative UMP party led by President Nicolas Sarkozy won only 18.6 percent of the vote, considerably less than the Socialists with 36.2 percent. Meanwhile with only 11 percent the right-wing extremist Front National still poses a threat, writes the business paper Les Echos: "Even if it has been somewhat weakened by the arithmetic of the second round of voting a brown-blue wave has emerged from the depths of France to roll over the entire country. It is different to that which to our shame washed Jean-Marie Le Pen into the second round of the presidential election nine years ago. This wave is less right-wing extremist than populist. And is therefore no less worrying. It would be a mistake for the majority party to keep on denying its glaring defeat as it has done in the past four years whenever it has met with failure."

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