THE spectacular first-round result achieved by the far-right National Front (FN) in Sunday’s regional elections in France is a sobering reminder of the dark political mood in Europe today. As the continent grapples with the aftershocks of terror in Paris and its greatest migrant influx in modern history, Marine Le Pen’s party pulled off its best-ever national score on December 6th. It secured an estimated 27-30% of the nationwide vote, beating its previous record of 25% at last year’s elections to the European Parliament, and nearly tripling its haul at the previous regional vote, in 2010.
The FN, which has never governed a region, now leads in no fewer than six out of 13 contests after the first round. Most startling of all, Ms Le Pen took an estimated 40-43% of the vote in coming top in the region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, according to exit polls. Her niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, got an estimated 41-42% in the southern region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. The one region that defied the trend was Ile-de-France, around Paris, where the FN has long had difficulties; there, it trailed in third place. Voters will return to the ballot box on December 13th for a run-off.
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Yet the FN had been upsetting France’s traditional two-party dominance, and entrenching itself as a serious player, long before these latest crises, thanks to a methodical effort by Ms Le Pen to “disinfect” the FN brand, shed its anti-Semitism and make it a respectable party ready to govern. Today, voters are turning to Ms Le Pen as much because of disillusion at unkept promises by successive governments over the economy and jobs, and because of a sense that only she stands up for ordinary folk. It is no coincidence that the two regions where the FN did best are also those with the highest rates of unemployment. The mainstream left and right will need more than just pious admonishments if they are to curb the FN. The more they urge voters to do whatever it takes to stop Ms Le Pen’s party, the better the FN seems to do. Read the whole article here » | Sunday, December 6, 2015
