FRANCE 24 - 29 SEPT - FRANCE: FRENCH FAR-RIGHT NATIONAL FRONT WINS FIRST EVER SEATS IN SENATE

France’s far-right National Front (FN) party has won its first two seats in the French Senate, amid a broad swing to the right that saw Socialist President François Hollande lose his majority in the upper house of parliament. France's Senate is not chosen by universal suffrage but by a "super-electorate" of elected representatives who vote to renew roughly half of the 348-seat Senate every three years. Half of the Senate’s 348 seats were up for grabs in Sunday’s vote. The conservative UMP party of Hollande's predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy and its allies from the centrist UDI won 188 seats –– 13 seats more than needed for an absolute majority. The FN, which also has two MPs in the National Assembly, was jubilant on Sunday evening after its first Senate victory since the anti-immigration and anti-EU party was founded in 1972. "These results are beyond what we hoped for," said FN leader Marine Le Pen. "Each day that passes, our ideas are increasingly being adopted by the French people... We have great potential." "There is only one door left for us to push and it is that of the Elysée," said newly elected National Front Senator Stéphane Ravier, referring to the French presidency. The swing to the right, and the inclusion of FN senators for the first time, reflects this spring’s victories for the FN and the UMP conservative opposition party in local elections. For the Socialist Party (PS), a drubbing in the Senate vote was bad news as it lost the majority it enjoyed there since September 2011, although it still controls the lower National Assembly, which is France’s dominant legislative body. It is also yet another blow to Hollande’s seemingly cursed mandate, which has seen his popularity plummet to record lows as the debt-saddled country suffers unprecedented unemployment levels amid massive national debt and zero growth. The FN has successfully capitalised on growing discontent over unemployment and resentment over immigration, and hopes to score an upset in the 2017 presidential election. The fortunes of the FN have been on the ascendant this year with the anti-immigration eurosceptic party gaining electoral ground in municipal elections and topping the European Parliament vote in May. An opinion poll this month showed that FN leader Le Pen would beat Hollande in presidential elections in 2017 in the event of a second round run-off between them. A new Senate leader will be chosen on Wednesday from the UMP ranks, to succeed socialist Jean-Pierre Bel. Former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin is among the front runners. LINK: http://www.france24.com/en/20140929-french-far-right-national-front-takes-first-ever-seats-senate/