French PM warns about rise of National Front

French PM warns about rise of National Front

PARIS -- The far-right National Front is on track to win more votes than any other party in the first round of French local elections, Reuters quoted a poll on Monday.

At the same time, France's Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls spoke of "fear" that the party could also in win the presidential election in 2017.

The Odoxa poll showed Marine Le Pen's "anti-EU, anti-immigration party" gathering 31 percent of votes in the first round of local elections, to be held on March 22.

The ruling Socialists can count on 21 percent, while Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing UMP party would win 29 percent, the survey showed.

"I fear for my country. I fear that it will smash itself to pieces against the Front National. Do you think a National Front scoring 25 percent in European elections, perhaps 30 percent in local elections, and so on, cannot win the presidential election? Not in 2022, or 2029, but in 2017," " Valls told Europe 1 radio at the weekend.

Four years ago National Front won 15 percent of votes in cantonal elections, and reached 25 percent in last year's European elections. The party expects "even better results now," AFP reported.

Most political analysts predicts that if the current trends continue Le Pen "could go to the presidential runoff in 2017, but would have small chances of winning."

Odoxa's online poll was carried out on March 5 and 6 with a sample of 800 people aged 18 and over, Reuters reported.