Francois Hollande’s Socialists take lead as centre-Right faces dilemma

With a poll published on Monday suggesting that 66 per cent of UMP voters want
the party to back the National Front in duels against Socialist candidates,
centre-Right leaders held crisis talks yesterday afternoon to agree on how
to proceed.

The Socialists want the UMP to agree to a mutual pact to block any National
Front candidate from winning a seat, by ordering any third-placed candidate
from either party to stand down.

But UMP chief Jean-François Copé told supporters neither to vote Socialist nor
National Front in round two. “Must we support a Socialist candidate who
is allied with the extreme Left of Jean-Luc Mélenchon? I’m not so sure,”
he said.

Some UMP candidates were on Monday threatening to ignore his call to boycott
the National Front. Etienne Mourrut, UMP candidate in the Gard, was said to
be “highly likely” to bow out to allow FN candidate Gilbert
Collard a chance to beat his Socialist rival. Roland Chassain, who came
third in the Bouches du Rhone, called on supporters to block the Socialist
candidate at all costs.

“We risk losing what differentiated us from the National Front and ending
up in the salt mines,” warned a former Right-wing government minister.

The National Front, meanwhile, has indicated it will call to vote for certain
UMP candidates on a case-by-case basis.

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