DHAKA: France’s Socialist government was hit by a fresh aftershock on Monday after a triumph for the far-right National Front (FN) in European elections was widely interpreted as a seismic shift in the country’s political landscape.

As he met top ministers to assess a vote in which the Socialists polled a record low of less than 14 per cent of the votes cast and one in four voters backed the FN, French president Francois Hollande was hit by another stinging rebuke from the country’s disgruntled electorate.

A poll released on Monday revealed that only 11 per cent of voters think he would be a good presidential candidate for the Socialists in 2017.

With his authority crumbling, Hollande also faces the prospect of renewed rumblings within the ruling party where a significant minority of deputies blame the government’s attempts to comply with the rules of the euro single currency for turning voters against the party and the European Union, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1632 HRS, MAY 26, 2014