Far-right gives Hollande a bloody nose in French voting

Initial results in French regional elections show the growing popularity of Marine Le Pen’s far-right Front National party.

Exit polls indicate it got 7 percent of the vote nationwide, compared to 43 percent for President Francois Hollande’s Socialists and 48 percent for the centre-right UMP.

But the FN fielded just 596 candidates in the 36,000 French municipalities where votes took place

It beat the centrist parties in a dozen or so southern cities, including Beziers, Sain...