Some members of the right-wing party The Republicans have joined the far right, creating a broader base of support across France. For some, this shows that there is weaker support for blocking the far right in government.
On a farm in a rural town outside Lyon, the niece of Marine Le Pen, Marion Maréchal figure of the extreme right, has presented himself to support a local candidate in the next legislative elections. His left behind abandonment of active politics.
Alexandre Humbert Dupalais He is one of the 62 candidates of the French right-wing The Republicans who joined the party leader, Eric Ciottiin a surprise move rejected by his own party colleagues to ally with the far right National Group by Marine Le Pen.
But in this constituency south of Lyon, an independent right-wing candidate has the support of the historic right and the president of the region, Laurent Wauquiez what He had already resigned from his positions after an electoral defeat in 2019.
Splits, lurches and alliances on the extreme right
It is a local example of the drama that was experienced on a national scale when the Republicans tried to remove Ciotti. after he allied himself with the extreme right after his success in the European elections.
Some of the voters who came to see Dupalais on Thursday said they had also heard the right-wing candidate, Cindy Ferro20 years old, who has the support of the mayor of the town of Mornant, where the rally was held.
Others were there to see Marine Le Pen’s niece, Marion Maréchaleven further to the extreme right than her aunt, who was recently expelled from the extreme right party Regain of Eric Zemmour for trying to ally with Agrupación Nacional, a party that he left in 2017.
“I, of course, thank Eric Ciotti which also made it possible to break this [cordón sanitario] to make it possible for us to come together, even though we were still separate, even competitors, just a few weeks ago,” Maréchal assured Euronews.
According to her, they have been able to agree on a program focused on Politics of immigrationthe recovery of the state authority and the question of purchasing power.
“I think there is a great moment of clarity for right-wing voters, today they clearly see that, on the one hand, there are the [políticos] of The Republicans who continue to opt for a alliance with the center and those who now choose right union with the National Group,” he added.
The French newspaper ‘The world‘ had informed previously that Ciotti’s list included candidates close to Maréchal or Zemmour’s party, and that few on the list came from Los Republicanos.
Humbert Dupalais explained to ‘Euronews‘ who has campaigned for the traditional right since he was 16 and said he had thought members of the Republican party would follow Ciotti. Instead, the party tried to replace him by allying himself with the far right.
“Predictable” growth of the extreme right
For years there has been an increase in support for the National Groupwhich has increased since Marine Le Pen he renamed her. Le Pen twice reached the second round of presidential elections against Emmanuel Macron and significantly increased its result in 2022 with a record 41% of the votes.
In the European elections at the beginning of the month, the party, led by Jordan Bardella28 years old, came first in more than 90% of French towns and could be the most voted in the legislative elections of June 30 and July 7.
Neofascism as the origin of the current extreme right
It is a far cry from when Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, who led the party from its inception in 1972 until 2011, obtained 17% of the votes in 2002, compared to 82% in Jacques Chirac.
The patriarch of the Le Pen has been denounced and condemned on multiple occasions for disparaging the Holocaust, and his own daughter excluded him from the party in an attempt to “demonize” him. However, the historical origins of the party date back to a french neofascist movement.
The Greens French recently asked the party of Macron what will block the extreme right in the second round of the legislative elections with a strategy previously used to elect the president, although this “republican bloc” seems to be weakening.
The dilemma of the center versus the extreme right
From the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy“several right-wing leaders explicitly said that in the event of a duel between the left and the National Frontwhich became the National Groupthey would not call to vote nor would they speak out against the National Group,” explains Stéphane Cadiouprofessor of Political Science at the University of Lyon 2.
“So the cracks in the republican front [para bloquear a la extrema derecha] They are relatively old. For 20 years, we have seen the far right grow in small towns, small peripheral towns. So it was foreseeable that, one day or another, National Group was going to challenge the traditional political parties for first place. It is increasingly anchored in a heterogeneous electoratethat is, it is increasingly aimed at more diversified population categories, and that is what allows it to have this much broader base than it had,” he added.
ADVERTISINGOptimism of the left versus the extreme right
Lyon’s left-wing voters told ‘Euronews‘ that they were very frightened by the prospect of the far right being so close to power, citing the party’s origins and its hardline views on immigration, but were trying to be positive about the prospects of the recent left-wing coalition, the New Popular Frontcurrently in second place in voting intention in the surveys.
The supporters of National Group In Mornant they do not want to hear of their candidate or their program representing an “extreme”, and most say that they would like to prevent what they consider to be a far-left party from topping the polls.
Many also confess that they are fed up with the politics of Emmanuel Macronciting the crisis of the Yellow Vestsand the unpopular pension reform.
