Le Pen says abstain
From the BBC:
French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has urged supporters not to vote in Sunday’s presidential run-off between Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal.
Mr Le Pen said that neither candidate deserved support from the voters who backed him in first round polling.
This could be bad for Sarkozy, who has been courting Le Pen’s supporters with his xenophobic authoritarianism and who could use Le Pen’s 10.4 percent of the vote.
Still, this is a good sign that Le Pen’s neo-fascism has been marginalized. He made it to the second round last time, where he was trounced by Chirac, but this time he finished fourth. The fact that he doesn’t like the two alternatives, including Sarkozy, suggests that something is going well in French politics, that voters and politicians alike are looking for a new way forward in which Le Pen’s bigotry has no place.
4 Responses to “Le Pen says abstain”
This is somewhat old news that you’re trying to “spin” into what you would like to believe. As a matter of fact, what le Pen said has truth behind it; Sarkozy is hardly a Margaret Thatcher.
While you lefties can continue to be illogical and post your hopes as “facts,” refer to anything on the Right you dislike as “fascism” or “neo-fascism,” immigration and other issues will continue to drive the rise of the Right in Europe as a backlash.
Le Pen got more than ten per cent of the vote. That’s 10 per cent, not merely one to two per cent. Not everyone is like the following person who was quoted:
“‘The boss has spoken, so one obeys,’ said one male National Front supporter at the rally, where elderly Le Pen diehards were joined by a sprinkling of skinheads in combat boots.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18415685/
Apparently Royal did well in the debate, while Sarkozy was surprised by her effort … don’t forget that in 2000, Al Gore was expected to win the election until the debates, which he proceeded to lose — followed by the election. The US public, after the debates, realized Bush had a chance to win, after all — and he won.
It would be foolish if the le Pen crowd abstained and threw the election to Royal, who is to the left of Sarkozy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6617835.stm
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/02/france.election.tv.debate.reut/
Conflating strong opposition to the avalanch of illegal immigration with xenophobia/racism is starting to lose it’s effect through overuse, at least here in Europe. We are becoming increasingly tired of being told that we are racist xenophobes when we complain about immigration law not being enforced, about sky-rocketing organized crime, almost all of it imported, about poor natives being pushed out of our generous social programs because poor immigrants have a “greater need”. Sarkozy is tapping into increasing resentment from French citizens who see that, far from having their concrens addressed, they are either told that everything is wonderful or are insulted outright. I’ve lost count of the number of friends that I have that are leftist on everything BUT immigration. It’s only a matter of time before people start being willing to vote for conservatives, who they otherwise would oppose, because they’re the only ones strong on immigration.
From what I know from my European friends, I have to agree with Lynx. Resentment of immigrants is growing across Europe and seems more acute at the moment in France. And it’s not just Michael’s bogey men that are complaining.
From what I saw of the debates, I would be inclined to call a draw. Sego did better than I thought she would, but I had low expectations.
Mostly, it was a fairly low-class high-drama affair. It was like watching a drunk, divorcing couple bicker. Especially when Sarko talked about mainstreaming disabled children. Sego said she was “scandalized.” Liz & Dick in Paris.
As for Le Pen, his call for boycott may not make all that much of a difference. Bayrou has been quoted as saying that he will vote for Sarkozy.