Old Socialist reads a Le Monde made to order diatribe, that undercuts itself!
Editor: The reader has to approach Nonna Mayer’s essay with more than skepticism!
Headline: The political crisis since the dissolution marks a new stage in the RN’s de-demonization.
Sub-headline: While the influence of Marine Le Pen’s party is growing, the sociologist Nonna Mayer believes that this rise needs to be put into perspective and, above all, can be curbed, provided that other political players adjust their strategies.
Editor: Mayer provides in three paragraphs the political territory as she views it, in sum the villain’s of The Right, that include ‘the repulsive effect of the radicalization of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’. Political elasticity rules!
Marine Le Pen has much to be happy about: Her party is experiencing unprecedented political momentum. With over 31% of the vote in the European elections, double that of the Macron-aligned coalition’s list, the list led by Jordan Bardella won 30 seats in the European Parliament, becoming the largest delegation in the legislature.
Bardella, who is the president of the Rassemblement National (RN, far-right), thus took the position of head of the Patriots for Europe group, founded by Viktor Orban, the third largest group in the Parliament. In France’s parliamentary elections, despite the republican front formed by its opponents, the RN obtained 29% in the first round and 32% in the second round, managing to send 126 representatives to the Assemblée Nationale, making it the largest single political group in the chamber. If we add to that its allies led by Eric Ciotti, they have 143 seats.
At the same time, the RN’s image has considerably improved, as shown by the RN Image Barometer, which has been monitoring it since 1983. This improvement is due to Le Pen’s strategy of normalization, her ability to present herself as a bastion of democracy and secularism in the face of radical Islamism, but also due to the indulgence of both Macron-aligned and LR right-wing politicians toward her ideas, and the repulsive effect of the radicalization of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his movement, La France Insoumise (LFI, radical left).
Editor: Mélenchon appears again, but as not just a sub rosa political ally of Le Pen but her conscious agent!
Mélenchon’s provocations, some bordering on anti-Semitism, have enabled Le Pen to position herself as the protector of France’s Jewish population, obscuring the party’s scandalous origins and her father’s deep-rooted anti-Semitism, including among a section of the Jewish electorate.
Editor: Here Mayer presents the French Electorate:
However, it is important not to overestimate its influence. The French vote is an imperfect reflection of society. Foreigners, who account for 8% of the country’s population, are, by definition, excluded from the electorate. Some 6% of French adults were unable to vote because they had not registered. Of the 49.4 million registered voters, almost half abstained from voting in the European elections (48.2%), and almost a third in each round of the parliamentary elections. In proportion to the registered electorate, the RN’s score falls to 15.7% in the European elections, 19% in the first round of the parliamentary elections and 20.2% in the second. Although it came out ahead of the other parties, it is far from being in the majority.
Editor: The Reader might wonder at the data that Mayer presents, on the voting habits of the French, to speak in American parlance, ‘what is all the fuss about’ ? I’ll end with the final paragraphs of this unimpressive diatribe that undercuts itself, as The Reader trudgers onward…
However, in the last parliamentary elections, women voters voted less often for the RN than men, most notably young women under 35, who clearly favored the left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire alliance’s candidates, with half of them voting in favor of the alliance, compared to 37% of men of the same age. If their attraction to the left persists – a trend which, incidentally, is not unique to France – this would be a major setback for a party whose electoral growth has been boosted by the conquest of the women’s electorate.
The RN has undoubtedly never been so close to power, but there are still obstacles in its path, unless the right continues to serve as a stepping stone for it and the left as a boogeyman.
Old Socialist
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