Far right a fixture in France despite defeat

Despite Marine Le Pen's drubbing in the French presidential election, her far-right National Front party expanded its footprint in the political landscape -- and confirmed its move into the mainstream. Her anti-immigrant, anti-Europe stance won a record 34 percent of ballots cast on May 7, which translates into the support of nearly 10.6 million voters.

The score is nearly double that of her father Jean-Marie Le Pen in the 2002 presidential run-off, which conservative Jacques Chirac won by a landslide. "We can no longer believe that the FN is a flash in the pan and that it is going to end," Virginie Martin, a political analyst at Kedge Business School told AFP.

In an era of unemployment hovering at 10 percent, a string of large-scale terror attacks and scandals clouding the major parties, the FN's France-first nationalist message has proven seductive in parts of the country. Its proposals to curb immigration, crack down on security and beef up protectionism have found fertile ground in economically depressed rural areas. "The winds of history are with us," 29-year-old Johan, who did not give his full name, told AFP at an election night party for Le Pen backers in Paris.

For decades the party was a toxic brand in French politics, linked to anti-Semites, ex-colonialists and xenophobes. But under Marine Le Pen, who took over the leadership from her father in 2011, the FN has worked to clean up its image. Her work to soften the party's image has paid off with successes in regional and local elections, culminating in May 7's historic score for the party.

The result "must be seen for what it is: The normalization of supporting the far-right in French society," historian Nicolas Lebourg wrote in the Liberation daily. At the same time,...