Far-Right Party Wins 4th City Hall

The far-right, anti-immigrant National Front captured its fourth city hall, despite a united effort by mainstream political parties to defeat it. According to final results released by election officials, Catherine Megret, the National Front candidate for mayor of Vitrolles, a town of 39,000 just north of Marseilles, defeated Socialist incumbent Jean-Jacques Anglade, 52% to 48%. The National Front, headed by Jean-Marie Le Pen, blames North African immigrants for France’s postwar record 12.6% unemployment rate and wants to expel them. After winning 15% of the national vote in the 1995 presidential elections, the party has in the last few years captured the city halls of Toulon, Orange and Marignane--all, like Vitrolles, southern cities with large immigrant populations. The mayoral election was organized after the results of a June 1995 vote were canceled on technical grounds. In that race, Anglade beat National Front candidate Bruno Megret by a margin of 353 votes. But Megret, a top Le Pen lieutenant, was barred from running again because of campaign overspending. His wife became the candidate.