Voting began on Sunday in the first round of French local elections where the far-right Front National (FN) hopes to come top and consolidate leader Marine Le Pen’s bid for the presidency in 2017. Opinion polls suggest voters are unexcited about the election for councillors with limited powers in the “departements”, one stratum of France’s complex…

Paris (dpa) – Opinion polls in France project the far-right National Front (FN) as the favourite against the Socialists and conservatives in local elections on Sunday. More than 43 million voters in 2,054 councils will vote in the first round, Le Monde newspaper reported. Pre-election polls forecast big losses for the ruling Socialists of President Francois…