France goes to polls for second round of local elections

French voters headed to the polls on Sunday for the in a runoff of local elections, a vote that was dominated a week ago by conservative and far-right parties.
The local elections put in place some 4,100 councilors in district bodies that govern on France's rural areas and towns, with the exception of Paris and Lyon.
Last Sunday, the Conservative coalition called Union for a Popular Majority (UMP) and its allies got more than 31 percent of ballots. The UMP is led by former President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The extreme-rightist, anti-European Union and anti-immigrant National Front party came in second place with close to 26 percent of votes, confirming a surge of support for the populist, nationalist party, which got a similar support vote in European Elections last year.
Today, the FN is hoping to capitalize on the swell of discontent with the ruling Socialists led by President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls, which finished with 22 percent in the first-round ballot a week before.
The party, which had only one councilor in the 4,000 posts coming into the election, has already increased its number to eight and can possibly hope for well over one hundred seats thus grounding its grassroots influence in local politics. The right-wing extremists caused a shake-up also last year by taking, with their allies, 12 major town councils in municipal elections.
Turnout was over 50 percent last Sunday, which is high for a local ballot and participation today will be important in how the two-candidate battles shape up local.
The Socialists have urged their voters to support the UMP in head-on battles against the FN but Sarkozy has given no instructions to UMP supporters in cases of a run-off between a Socialist and a National Front candidate.