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Hollande pays price of neoliberalism as left and far right gain
His Socialist Party administration's adherence to orthodox neoliberal policies gave victory to the conservative Union for a Popular Movement

French President Francois Hollande's failure to honour election promises on jobs has brought inevitably poor results in Sunday's first round of municipal elections.

His Socialist Party administration's adherence to orthodox neoliberal policies gave victory to the conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and some gains to the racist National Front (FN).

Most striking was the FN's outright triumph in former mining town Henin-Beaumont in the Pas-de-Calais department, where its candidate Steeve Briois took 50.26 per cent of the vote and won the mayoralty.

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