news
12-07-2015, 11:08 PM
Some will argue that this is not a national election, others will point at the abstention level -- close to 49 percent -- or focus on isolated cases but the first round's results of the French regional elections are without ambiguity, this is a huge electoral win for Marine Le Pen's party, the Front national or the National Front.
The far-right party founded 43 years ago by Marine Le Pen's father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, obtained according to the first estimation almost 30 percent of the vote against 26.5 percent for the union of three parties on the right, les Républicains, The Republicans, Nicolas Sarkosy's newly created movement, the MoDem and the UDI. With less than 23 percent of the votes the Socialist party of French president François Hollande is seriously weakened 17 months before the next presidential election.
Marine Le Pen, candidate in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie region, came first with 41 percent while her 25 years old niece Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, is leading in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region with more than 41 percent of the vote. In fact, the National Front is largely leading in six of the 13 French regions.
Such a success, for the 47-year-old Marine Le Pen is certainly a loss for the European ideal and a loss for a certain idea of France, a country whose grandeur lies in her openness and in her capacity to be seen from outside as a reference.
However, Marine Le Pen's win is not yet synonymous with the complete defeat of the European ideal nor of the constant French quest for progress, she simply won over political opponents who for decades have been unable to create enough jobs in a country with 10.6 percent of unemployment and who have been incapable of creating an efficient and autonomous European Union generator of prosperity and security.
The source of Marine Le Pen's success is not in the solidity of the arguments she or the 34-year-old Florian Philippot, one of the party's most visible vice presidents, often aptly present in the media, but it is in the weaknesses of their political opponents who fail to deliver when they are in office and who can not convince anymore when they look for re-election.
In the context of a European refugee crisis adding to the general fear of the foreigner and to the Islamophobia, the November 13 terrorist attacks certainly boosted the National Front support but François Hollande's reaction to the Daesh massacre in Paris also offered credibility to some of Marine Le Pen's credos: recurrent display of emotional patriotism, the return to the national paradigm or the re-establishment of the national border.
The noble goals of the COP21 have never formed a momentum able to overcome the simplistic dichotomy which had marked the French mood since November 13: on one side, the jihadists or the enemies of France, one the other side, the French nation confronting the threat and resisting barbarity. These conditions were conducive for Marine Le Pen's political rhetoric to shift from controversial margins to the mainstream.
Obviously, for France's and Europe's future, it is the 2017 presidential election which will be truly decisive. The December 6 elections show the unprecedented strength of the National Front but it is not too late for other political movements to develop the right strategies to contain and diminish Marine Le Pen's influence.
Courageous, creative and wise leaders are in need to stop Marine Le Pen's rise, her consolidated presence in the French landscape has become a reality but she might be also one day in a position to transform her fallacies into official governmental policies.
On such a day, her victory, affecting the grandeur of the country, would be France's defeat. More than anything else, December 6 is the call for a renewed French political leadership inspired by the principles which constitute the true greatness of an ancient nation and animated by an ambition for Europe in a world of changes, challenges but, above all, of opportunities. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/rc/1/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/rc/1/rc.htm)
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/rc/2/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/rc/2/rc.htm)
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/rc/3/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/rc/3/rc.htm)
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/a2.img (http://da.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/a2.htm)
http://adchoice.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/ach.img (http://adchoice.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/ach.htm)http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/a2t.imghttp://pi2.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/a2t2.imghttp://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/4c118036/sc/24/mf.gif
More... (http://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/4c118036/sc/24/l/0L0Shuffingtonpost0N0Cdavid0Egosset0Cthe0Eelectora l0Ewin0Eof0Emari0Ib0I87351180Bhtml/story01.htm)
The far-right party founded 43 years ago by Marine Le Pen's father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, obtained according to the first estimation almost 30 percent of the vote against 26.5 percent for the union of three parties on the right, les Républicains, The Republicans, Nicolas Sarkosy's newly created movement, the MoDem and the UDI. With less than 23 percent of the votes the Socialist party of French president François Hollande is seriously weakened 17 months before the next presidential election.
Marine Le Pen, candidate in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie region, came first with 41 percent while her 25 years old niece Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, is leading in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region with more than 41 percent of the vote. In fact, the National Front is largely leading in six of the 13 French regions.
Such a success, for the 47-year-old Marine Le Pen is certainly a loss for the European ideal and a loss for a certain idea of France, a country whose grandeur lies in her openness and in her capacity to be seen from outside as a reference.
However, Marine Le Pen's win is not yet synonymous with the complete defeat of the European ideal nor of the constant French quest for progress, she simply won over political opponents who for decades have been unable to create enough jobs in a country with 10.6 percent of unemployment and who have been incapable of creating an efficient and autonomous European Union generator of prosperity and security.
The source of Marine Le Pen's success is not in the solidity of the arguments she or the 34-year-old Florian Philippot, one of the party's most visible vice presidents, often aptly present in the media, but it is in the weaknesses of their political opponents who fail to deliver when they are in office and who can not convince anymore when they look for re-election.
In the context of a European refugee crisis adding to the general fear of the foreigner and to the Islamophobia, the November 13 terrorist attacks certainly boosted the National Front support but François Hollande's reaction to the Daesh massacre in Paris also offered credibility to some of Marine Le Pen's credos: recurrent display of emotional patriotism, the return to the national paradigm or the re-establishment of the national border.
The noble goals of the COP21 have never formed a momentum able to overcome the simplistic dichotomy which had marked the French mood since November 13: on one side, the jihadists or the enemies of France, one the other side, the French nation confronting the threat and resisting barbarity. These conditions were conducive for Marine Le Pen's political rhetoric to shift from controversial margins to the mainstream.
Obviously, for France's and Europe's future, it is the 2017 presidential election which will be truly decisive. The December 6 elections show the unprecedented strength of the National Front but it is not too late for other political movements to develop the right strategies to contain and diminish Marine Le Pen's influence.
Courageous, creative and wise leaders are in need to stop Marine Le Pen's rise, her consolidated presence in the French landscape has become a reality but she might be also one day in a position to transform her fallacies into official governmental policies.
On such a day, her victory, affecting the grandeur of the country, would be France's defeat. More than anything else, December 6 is the call for a renewed French political leadership inspired by the principles which constitute the true greatness of an ancient nation and animated by an ambition for Europe in a world of changes, challenges but, above all, of opportunities. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/rc/1/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/rc/1/rc.htm)
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/rc/2/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/rc/2/rc.htm)
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/rc/3/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/rc/3/rc.htm)
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/a2.img (http://da.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/a2.htm)
http://adchoice.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/ach.img (http://adchoice.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/ach.htm)http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/a2t.imghttp://pi2.feedsportal.com/r/244160861352/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/4c118036/sc/24/a2t2.imghttp://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/4c118036/sc/24/mf.gif
More... (http://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/4c118036/sc/24/l/0L0Shuffingtonpost0N0Cdavid0Egosset0Cthe0Eelectora l0Ewin0Eof0Emari0Ib0I87351180Bhtml/story01.htm)