National Front sees growing support among Catholics

France’s far-right National Front (FN) goes into regional elections tomorrow and on 13 December, hoping to win up to three of the 13 regional assemblies in metropolitan France – what would be its first victories in such polls – thanks in part to rising support among Catholics, writes Tom Heneghan.

Jérôme Sainte-Marie, a res­pected pollster, said practising Cath­olics used to vote in fewer numbers than the average for the FN, but now probably more than the average would vote for the far-right.

Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, granddaughter of the anti-immigrant party’s founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, has the best prospects to win in her south-eastern region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) and has made the most open pitch to Catholic votes.

“If some French can be Muslims and practise their faith, they must accept to do it on soil that is culturally Christian,” she said recently. “That means today that they cannot have exactly the same rank as the Catholic religion.” Her aunt, party leader Marine Le Pen, is the frontrunner in Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie region. She is less religious than Marion, but they have both been critical of abortion.