France Extends Emergency Fifth Time

France’s parliament voted to extend a national state of emergency until July 15, after next year’s elections.

The security measures, in force since attacks in Paris that killed 130 people in November 2015, are now expected to be approved by the Senate.

It is the fifth extension of the state of emergency, which gives police extended powers of search and arrest.

The overnight vote in the National Assembly passed by 288 to 32, with only Left Front lawmakers, protesting ecologists and a handful of centre-right Republicans voting against.

The extension, which will give the country its longest uninterrupted state of emergency since the Algerian War in the 1960s, will span the two-round presidential election in April-May and June parliamentary polls.

The government has cited a heightened risk of jihadist attacks coinciding with the polls.