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