Back to Reality for Hollande as Voters Flock to Le Pen Message
- Sunday results won't match Hollande popularity after attacks
- National Front leading in popular vote, could take two regions
Parisians: Heartbroken But Defiant as Europe on Alert
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After three weeks spent decrying terrorists and occupying the world stage, French President Francois Hollande faces an abrupt return to domestic reality this weekend in the form of surging support for the far-right National Front that could give his party an electoral defeat.
Voters head to the polls for the first round of regional elections Sunday. By the time results of the second round are in on Dec. 13, the anti-immigrant, anti-euro National Front may well win power in two or three of 12 regional assemblies for the first time and trounce Hollande’s Socialists in the popular vote, polls show.