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| Europe |
| Le Pen plots surprise after poll boost |
| 2006-11-04 |
| The far-Right leader is benefiting from ghetto violence in the race for the presidency Aged 78 but bursting for a new fight, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the far Right in France, yesterday savoured news that shook the main parties in the race for the presidency next spring: he is enjoying a surge of popularity. A poll by the CSA institute showed that 17 per cent of voters supported the chief of the National Front. This is eight points higher than the same period before the 2002 election, in which M Le Pen shocked Europe by coming second to Jacques Chirac. M Le Pen, campaigning for the fifth time since 1974, has been insisting that he is heading for a bigger breakthrough than in 2002, when he won nearly 17 per cent of the vote in the first round. He is, he says, benefiting from public anger over immigration, ghetto violence and disgust with politicians. “I am convinced that I will be in the second round,” he said yesterday. “The economic, financial and social position of the country will be much more serious . . . so I will benefit from the rejection of the governing parties.” With typical bluster, the one-time paratrooper and 1950s MP told the weekly magazine VSD that he is not just preparing for another run-off — he lost heavily to M Chirac in 2002. “I want to govern, in order to apply my ideas. Everyone reproached me for talking about immigration . . . now everyone can see that this is the chief cause of the worrying events in our country,” he said. A repeat of the 2002 first-round result is unlikely because of the domination of two reform-minded favourites in their early fifties — Ségolène Royal, of the Socialists, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the leader of the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement. Each is trying to appear tough on law and order and immigration — M Le Pen’ s recruiting ground. The shine is fading from both candidates in the face of opposition from party rivals and M Le Pen is predicting that “Sargolène and Ségozy”, as he mockingly calls the duo, will fall before the final round, which will take place next May. As in 2002, the Socialist candidate may be weakened by a fragmented field from the far Left, but M Le Pen’s biggest hope is that M Sarkozy stumbles. The Interior Minister has made inroads into the Le Pen electorate with his harsh rhetoric on illegal immigration and violence. President Chirac is indirectly helping M Le Pen by waging an underground campaign to undermine M Sarkozy, whom he loathes. He is encouraging Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, and Michèle Alliot-Marie, the Defence Minister, to run against M Sarkozy. Both have indicated that they plan to do so. As usual, the pariah status of M Le Pen has kept him out of the media, while polls have shown his popularity rising. “I am like Zorro,” he said. “Everyone knows that I am there but no one sees me.” Renewed violence on the immigrant estates has been playing into the hands of M Le Pen. The spectre of another electoral hijacking has woken up the media this week as opinion polls reported support rising from 12 per cent to the higher teens. Stéphane Rozès, director of CSA, which carried out yesterday’s poll for the newspaper Le Figaro, said that only one third of those saying that they would vote for M Le Pen represented extreme-right supporters. The rest were hardline conservatives and disillusioned voters who would vote in protest against the mainstream. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #6 Don't forget the aristocrat Philippe de Villiers (Philippe le Jolis de Villiers de Saintignon)is also on the rise. |
| Posted by: SwissTex 2006-11-04 09:55 |
| #5 I am less afraid of what Le Pen may do to France in the short term, as usually such individuals seldom win enough plurality to have a mandate for radicalism, and so must temper their extremism. However, I hope he wins for the odd reason that he will be a harsh blow to the European government. A nightmare to their socialism that they cannot ignore or threaten, like the right wing Prime Minister of Austria some years ago. But, like US democrats, since they cannot resist publicly sneering at Le Pen, and the French people in general for electing him, it will be a big eye opener to the French public about the EU. And the EU will take a giant step to becoming the new version of the HRE. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-11-04 09:46 |
| #4 Anon - what a perfect description of NPR! |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-11-04 09:12 |
| #3 just highlights how completely unrepresentative and out of touch the journalistic classes really are. I was forced to listen to NPR yesterday. I haven't had to do that for awhile. It truly amazed me how dishonest and out of touch the program was. Like a make-believe Mr. Rogers for the aging left. |
| Posted by: anon 2006-11-04 07:06 |
| #2 How come this is only a suprise to the MSM? Every article from the MSM with the word suprise, just highlights how completely unrepresentative and out of touch the journalistic classes really are. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2006-11-04 06:21 |
| #1 Sarkozy, who is an immigrant from East Europe, has been held back in attacking the terrorist underground, by Chirac. He will probably win, but the left-Islamofascist alliance will harden if he moves against the so called social "safety net" which is destroying France. Chirac's sandbagging of civil police has been a disgrace. It is no exaggeration to say that where a flic exercises self-defense against a Muslim aggressor, he is accused of Islamophobia. Another weekend, another 500 torched cars and minimal arrests. What a sick country. |
| Posted by: Snease Shaiting3550 2006-11-04 05:18 |