Le Pen’s siren song The lure of populism
What happened
French politics were thrown into confusion this week when former prime minister François Fillon scored a shock victory to become the likely candidate of the centreright for a showdown with far-right leader Marine Le Pen in next year’s presidential election. Fillon, who has promised a programme of sweeping economic reforms, won 44% of the vote in the first round of a primary election to choose a presidential nominee for the mainstream Right. He now faces a second-round contest this weekend against Alain Juppé, another former prime minister, who came a distant second.
The primary was open to all voters willing to pay two euros and pledge loyalty to the values of the French centre-right; and it marked a resounding defeat for former president Nicolas Sarkozy, who was eliminated after taking third place. Polls suggest that Fillon would be the clear winner over Le Pen in the presidential election.
What the editorials said
The stakes for France “could not be higher”, said The Economist. It’s still unlikely, but the same populist surge that sent Trump to the White House could spell victory for Le Pen in next year’s poll: with support at around 30%, she already looks certain to reach the second, run-off stage. If she does win, the effects would be catastrophic. She has pledged not only to take France out of the euro but also to hold a “Frexit” referendum on leaving the EU. And now it seems that only another right-winger – most likely Fillon – will be able to block her progress, said The Guardian. The prospects for a divided Left are “dismal”, with Socialist president François Hollande suffering approval ratings of just 4%.
But is Fillon really the best person to tackle Le Pen, asked The Times. He’s proposing a radical course of “shock therapy” to address France’s problems: cutting 500,000 public sector jobs and slashing taxes. But as Sarkozy’s former prime minister, there’s no way he can tap into the “anti-elitist” sentiment that lies behind the rise of the National Front and the Europe-wide spread of populism.