WORLD : Right Wing Wins French Seat
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PARIS — Right-wing extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front party won a seat in the French Parliament for the first time in a year, winning 61% of the vote in a by-election in Dreux, election officials said today.
The anti-immigration party also scored 51% of the vote in a regional by-election in Salon-de-Provence and 47% in another legislative by-election in Marseilles.
Political analysts said the support for the National Front indicates a growing national discontent with immigration policies.
Le Pen, who mustered only 11.4% of the vote in June, 1988, national legislative elections, has been at the forefront of a heated debate over whether Muslim women should be able to wear head scarves in state-run classrooms. Le Pen opposes the wearing of head scarves in public schools, saying it violates French culture.
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