Marine Le Pen has achieved the best ever result for the Front National, and now stands as the ‘kingmaker’. But we should not overestimate the impact of her performance.

For many, Front National’s Marine Le Pen’s result of 18 per cent of votes cast in this week’s French presidential elections came as a surprise. Not for Jocelyn Evans and Gilles Ivaldi who had predicted this result last month on EUROPP. As part of our continuing series covering the French elections, they argue that this result does not represent a seismic change in the fortunes of the Front National, and that it is unlikely that they will do as well in June’s legislative elections.