The triumph of France's far right National Front (FN) in European elections has left President Francois Hollande fighting for his political life, allies and analysts warned today.
A day after his Socialist Party polled a record low of less than 14 per cent and one in four voters backed the FN, Hollande was hit by another stinging rebuke from the country's disgruntled electorate.
A poll released today revealed that only 11 per cent of voters think he would be a good presidential candidate for the Socialists in 2017.
With his authority crumbling, Hollande also faces the prospect of a rebellion within his party, where a significant minority of deputies blame the government's attempts to comply with the rules of the euro single currency for turning voters against the party and the European Union (EU).
Le Nouvel Observateur, an influential left-leaning weekly, concluded bluntly that: "Hollande no longer has any chance for 2017," and urged the French left to turn its attention to finding an alternative candidate with a better chance of combatting the FN.
A senior Socialist figure told AFP: "Hollande has got to get back on the campaign trail, not to win in 2017 but just to reconvince the French to trust him. You cannot govern a country with 18 per cent popularity ratings."
Against that bleak backdrop, Hollande announced that he would address the nation in a televised address at 8:00 pm.
Yesterday's vote marked the first time that the anti-immigration, anti-EU FN had topped a nationwide French poll.
Final results gave the party led by Marine Le Pen just under 25 per cent of the vote on a turnout of just over 43 per cent.
That guaranteed them 24 of France's 74 seats in the 751-member European Parliament.
The FN's success was also bad news for the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, which was beaten into second place with 20.8 per cent of the vote and 20 seats.
