The record high share of votes garnered by France's far-right political party, the National Front, in the first round of regional elections Sunday positions its leader, Marine Le Pen, as a serious presidential contender for 2017 and leaves far-right and mainstream parties across the Continent scrambling to recalibrate their messages.
Polls suggest that the National Front will likely be unable to match its success in the second round of voting Sunday because one-on-one votes will favor the more traditional parties. But analysts and politicians alike say the votes this month have underscored the reality that the issues dominating the political scene — terrorism and a seemingly unstoppable wave of migrants from the Middle East, North Africa and Afghanistan seeking to crash into the European Union — play to the strengths of the National Front and other anti-immigration movements in Europe.
