France's Fearful Campaign | People and Power

Apr 7, 2022 • France's centrist President Emmanuel Macron is seeking a fresh term in office, with the first round of voting set for April 10.

For much of the campaign, with the left in apparent disarray, his main opponents from the populist far right have been steadily gaining ground - reshaping the national conversation around immigration, economic grievances and identity politics.

Then came the crisis in Ukraine, giving Macron an opportunity to show off his international experience and altering the electoral landscape once more.

Now, as polling day approaches, it seems likely that the second runoff round of voting on April 24 will be between Macron and Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally party.

So what has this complex, sometimes fearful, election revealed about the changing nature of French politics?

The Man at the Center of the French Election Isn’t Even on the Ballot

Mario Fourmy/Redux
OPINION: GUEST ESSAY
THE NEW YORK TIMES: PARIS — Like the rest of Europe, France is gripped by the war in Ukraine. Days from the first round of the presidential election here, the incumbent, Emmanuel Macron, hopes to prevail with what was, for much of the last two months, a muted campaign in which he posed as a steady hand in a time of global instability.

But for all the talk of a united West, the truth is that a noxious blend of oligarchy, nostalgia and bellicose nationalism is ever more ubiquitous on this side of the new Iron Curtain. In France, it is led by a buoyant and confident new right, represented in this election by Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally; Valérie Pécresse of the ostensibly moderate Republicans; and Éric Zemmour, the pugilistic proto-fascist commentator turned candidate.

Yet their electoral showing this month may be but a sideshow in a broader attempt to remake French politics. Behind them all, to one degree or another, is someone not even on the ballot: the media mogul Vincent Bolloré. The scion of an old industrial family, Mr. Bolloré wields a fearsome agenda-setting power; his outlets, known for adopting the flair, tics and style of Fox News, play an outsize role in directing the national debate. The three candidates from the right — and much of the political class, in fact — recycle, in varying shades, messages that run on a loop on his networks. » | Harrison Stetler * | Thursday, April 7, 2022

* Mr. Stetler is a journalist who writes about French politics.