PARIS (Reuters) - France's far-right National Front (FN) knocked out left-wing rivals and won twice as many votes as the centre-right UMP in the first round of a local election in southern France, a sign of growing popularity for the anti-immigrant party.
Results tallied late on Sunday showed FN candidate Laurent Lopez took 40.4 percent of the vote in the canton of Brignoles, near Toulon, in Sunday's vote, versus 20.7 percent for the UMP candidate and 14.6 percent for the Communist.
