Regional election poses crucial test for French far right

France's decisive, second round of voting in regional elections is being scrutinized as a litmus test of whether the anti-immigration far right is gaining acceptability before the French presidential election next year

PARIS -- A decisive, second round of voting in France's regional elections on Sunday is being scrutinized as a litmus test of whether the anti-immigration far right is gaining in acceptability before the French presidential election next year. Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally, has spent a decade trying to cast off the extremist reputation that made the party anathema to many French voters in its previous guise as the National Front. A failure to win control of a region Sunday would mark a stinging setback for the rebranded party. There were plenty of hand sanitizer bottles but not many voters at a polling station in Saint-Quentin in northern France as Sunday's elections got under way. Paris voting stations that sometimes see lines stood largely empty, other than a few elderly voters. Turnout nationwide was less than 13% by midday. A record-low turnout of 33% in the first round of voting on June 20 proved particularly damaging for the National Rally and Le Pen's hopes of securing a regional breakthrough to bolster her 2022 presidential campaign. The party has not previously won a region.