Paris (AP) – The far right has become mainstream in France.
This is the title of an important testimony from Marine Le Pen’s French presidential election. The brutal nationalist did not win on Sunday. But he took a step away, gaining a victory from his defeat to re -elected president Emmanuel Macron.
With 41.5% of the vote, Le Pen’s anti-system and anti-system policy of dissatisfaction has not worked for him yet. Deeper than ever In the French psyche, in the psyche and in the political landscape.
Since the Le Pen dynasty – first his father, Jean -Marie, and now Marine, his daughter – first ran for president in 1974, so many French voters have never noticed his doctrine that multicultural and multiracial France, in the words of the country. Writing “Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood” on its public buildings would be richer, safer and to some extent more French if it were less open to foreigners and the outside world.
To become France’s first female president, her plan to fight Islamic terrorism included taking away the freedom of some French women – Muslim women. He wanted to ban them from wearing the veil in public, almost unequal or sibling. The same goes for his proposals to move French citizens ahead of jobs, benefits and housing.
For head-to-head voter Yasmina Akas, Le Pen’s defeat was not a solemn moment, not her strong support and ideas, which were “previously limited to the most right-wing militant group,” becoming more acceptable. in an educated society.
“Le Pen still gets 40% of the vote,” the 19-year-old law student said. “It’s not a success”.
Internationally, Le Pen wants to start destroying France’s relations with the European Union, NATO and neighboring Germany, steps that would be seismic for the architecture of peace in Europe, in the midst of the Russian war in Ukraine.
In other words, France survived the political, social and economic electric shock by voting for Le Pen.
Or he might just be postponed if he chooses to apply again in 2027. That’s far. Many things can change. But Le Pen is not over yet.
“With this defeat, I couldn’t help but feel the shape of hope,” he said. “I will never leave the French”.
More than 40% of the vote went to Le Pen, a prominent leader. Since General Charles de Gaulle defeated François Mitterrand by 55% to 45% in 1965, all defeated finalists have lost 40 to 50%.
With two exceptions, they were both called Le Pen.
Jean-Marie beat Jacques Chirac by 82% to 18% in 2002 and lost to Marine Macron by 66% to 34% in 2017.
Voters consider it their psychological duty to keep Le Pen’s scores low and vote against them as a blow against racism and xenophobia. Few today think so.
By supporting household goods, befriending the working class, changing the name of the party and distancing himself from his father, Le Pen expanded his appeal and was less intimidated by the growing section of voters in France. Immigration is not the main concern of all its supporters. They all don’t care about the EU, Muslims and foreigners. But Le Pen speaks to many who feel unheard and neglected by officials in Paris and Brussels.
So while Macron became the first president of France in 20 years to win a second term, he also failed: he failed to achieve the goal he set for himself at the beginning of his presidency.
Five years ago, in his triumphant speech for victory, Macron promised to put Le Pen under his feet, the anger of the voters he fed.
“I will do my best over the next five years so that there is no longer any reason to vote for extremism,” he said.
But French extremists are now doing better than ever, in search of a growing, enthusiastic and utterly unimpeded audience of the far -right rhetoric “We are against them”.
For the far right, the “we” are mainly whites and Christians who have lost their homes due to migration, suffered by globalization, feared Islamic fundamentalists and lost their French identity because of their imported cultures, religions. and value.
“They” are all to blame: elites, foreigners, financiers, EU, Muslims, the “system”. Their list is long.
The market for their policies has grown so much that in this election they have chosen different strains of extremism.
Former television pundit Eric Zemor, who has been repeatedly convicted for hate speech, finished fourth out of 12 candidates in the first round of voting on April 10. Immigrants and their children. He mentioned France’s cooperation with its Nazi occupiers during World War II. During his campaign, he filled the public with his anti-Islamic and anti-immigration inventions.
For Le Pen, he also had the added bonus of being vanilla and picky, which partly explains why he performed so well. Together, the far right won 32% of the votes in the first round.
Now Le Pen took another step against Macron in the second round.
Not enough to rise to power.
AP reporter John Lester has been writing from France since 2002. Arno Pedram contributed.
Source: Huffpost
