"Gone is the taboo on any collaboration with the extreme right propounded by Gaullist president Jacques Chirac when Le Pen's father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, first reached the run-off in the 2002 presidential election. Gone, too, is the republican front spanning from the centre-right through president Emmanuel Macron's centrists to the radical left France Unbowed (LFI), which stopped the far right from sweeping the board in a snap parliamentary election just a year ago."
"Every week brings new evidence that the firewall between the mainstream centre right and the extreme right is breaking down as Les Republicains struggle for survival against a surge in voter support for the nationalist, xenophobic and Eurosceptic RN. Recent opinion polls show the RN has 35% support or higher, whether their presidential candidate is Le Pen, currently barred from running by a conviction for embezzling EU funds which she is appealing, or Bardella, the 30-year-old party president."
Bruno Retailleau's call to give "Not one vote for the left" helped an ally of Marine Le Pen's National Rally win a byelection after the centre-right candidate was eliminated in the first round. The mainstream centre-right is increasingly open to cooperation with the far right, ending long-standing taboos and weakening the republican front that once united centrists and the radical left to block the RN. That breakdown has produced political instability, eroded public trust in mainstream parties, and fueled RN polling at around 35%, while potential Les Republicains candidates register under 10%, boosting RN prospects for 2027.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]