We’re all probably feeling a bit electioned out. The American presidential election was exhausting for everyone, even for observers behind computer screens in faraway lands. Regardless, the onslaught continues; the American political system is already gearing up for the midterm elections next year; in New Zealand we’re preparing for our own election spectacle in September; and in France, one of the West’s most established and influential states, another controversial figure, Marine Le Pen, looks set to win the presidential election in April.
Le Pen is the leader of France’s National Front, a right-wing populist and nationalist party founded in 1972. Since succeeding her staunch father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in 2011, Le Pen has managed to bring the party back from the fringes and present the party as a realistic alternative to the two main parties of the French system, the Republicans and the Socialists, by toning down the racism and sexism that the party openly displayed during her father’s tenure. The party adopted broad populist policies not too different to those of the mainstream right in France, including promises to limit immigration.
While the Republicans continue to cater to the right-of-centre middle-classes, Le Pen and the National Front have become the voice for the disillusioned ‘working families’ who are sick of seeing their jobs stolen by “wild and anarchic” globalisation. In the process, the National Front is stealing the Left’s traditional voter base – an all too familiar phenomenon. And so, the National Front has managed to enter the mainstream, while still retaining its nationalist rhetoric of preserving the “native French identity” from erosion by aliens with ‘backwards’ beliefs.
Le Pen has championed the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as historic moments in building a new world order. She’s promised to hold a similar referendum to leave the EU to the UK within six months of taking office. Setting off more alarm bells for the liberal Western order, Le Pen has been severely critical of NATO’s hegemony in the northern hemisphere and has repeatedly praised Russian president Vladimir Putin, even going as far as to claim that the 2014 annexation of Crimea was not illegal or even a real annexation.v
Recent opinion polls have her anywhere from 25-27 percent, while the Republicans and Socialists trail behind at around 17 and 14 percent respectively. However, France’s system involves a second round of voting, which may stop Le Pen. If no candidate wins a majority in April, a run-off election between the top two candidates is held in May. In current hypothetical match-ups, opinion polling has Le Pen losing to her opponents by upwards of 13 percent. Things can change rapidly, though, and Wikileaks has been busy in France releasing documents that dirty the Republican candidate, Francois Fillon, irreparably damaging his credibility. Whatever the outcome, globally we’re experiencing a monumental shift when former fringe parties like the National Front challenge the status quo.