Socialists pull out of regional poll

France’s Socialist Party yesterday said it would pull its candidates out of a third regional poll, that of eastern France, adding to its efforts to create an electoral “barricade” against the far right, the party’s chief said yesterday.

The far-right National Front of Marine Le Pen made sweeping gains across France in a first round of voting on Sunday, largely at the expense of the ruling Socialists of President Francois Hollande.