The persistence of the National Front in French politics: It's impact beyond the 2002 presidential elections

Résumé du document

Spring 2002, after living through the empowerment of the far right party FPPO led by Jorg Haider in Austria, the European community sees the first important action of the extremist right wing in a big European country, France. It is on the 21st of April that Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the National Front (FN), reached the second round of the Presidential elections with 16.86% of the French votes. Surprisingly, Le Pen was going to compete with Jacques Chirac on the 5th of May 2002. (CNN)

The entire population was watching TV when the pictures of the two candidates were revealed. This news instantly shook the country's ground. Journalists were trying to keep a straight face and were already commenting on manifestations that promptly took place throughout France. Massive groupings of young and older people expressed their fear during interviews, political leaders argued on TV. France was going through a critical time in its political history. Even if the majority of the people thought that M. Le Pen couldn't be elected president, pressure was definitely palpable, debates and manifestations took place everyday and words such as "FN" or "Le Pen" were constantly mentioned in conversations all around France.

Extraits

[...] "Le Pen, the National Front and the Extreme Right in France." Oxford Journals - Parliamentary Affairs, October Heller, Henry. "Right-Wing Power in France." Canadian Dimension, July Laver, Michael, Kenneth Benoit, and Nicolas Sauger. "Policy competition in the 2002 French legislative and presidential elections." European Journal of Political Research 45, no (June 2006): 667- Marquand, Robert. "France's National Front: Will Marine Le Pen take the reins?." Christian Science Monitor, June Marthaler, Sally. "La course au centre: Policy Convergence and Partisanship in France, 1981-2002." French Politics, Culture & Society 28, no (Summer2010 2010): 75- Mayer, Catherine, et al. [...]

[...] Reasons that could explain the rise of the National Front in France are about the political structure: the voting system, the diarchy of the executive power which allows cohabitation and the absence of a credible National Party. First of all, in France, the voting system for the presidential elections permits on the first round to vote ‘with your heart'. However, the second round is considered as a reasoning vote, more pragmatic and rational. Thus, we understand now that the high scores of the FN in 1995 and in 2002 represented undecided voters who thought Le Pen would never be President and didn't hesitate to vote Le Pen as a protest vote to demonstrate their rejection of the politics. [...]

[...] To illustrate her charisma and her serious presence, Robert Marquand comments in his paper called ‘France's National Front: Will Marine Le Pen take the reins?' that called on President Nicolas Sarkozy to step down if implicated in a bribery case dating to 1995. She recently knocked France's racially diverse World Cup soccer team: don't see myself represented by this France team. And after police on June 15 banned a provocative "pork sausage and booze" party that was to be held in a heavily Arab-Muslim quarter of Paris, Ms. [...]

[...] Besides the theme of insecurity that was avoided by other parties, it is noteworthy to talk about the media and its role in the climb of the FN. Indeed, the media pushed a fear and a concern about insecurity in France, television and newspapers focused on this theme constantly. As a result, the population was highly influenced by the heavy news. Indeed, Frédérick Royall notices how the politicians and the media have treated delinquency and how it still is a factor that helps the rise of the FN. [...]

[...] "Social Cleavage and the Revival of Far Right Parties: The Case of France's National Front." Acta Sociologica (Taylor & Francis Ltd) 40, no (March 1997): 31- "When angry voters hit back." Economist 370, no (March 27, 2004): 49- Williams, Michelle Hale. "'Crossing the Desert' and Transforming French Far Right Party Politics." Conference Papers American Political Science Association (August 27, 2003): 1-34. [...]