French anti-immigrant far-right worries critics after soaring in presidential vote

[pampango]

The anti-immigrant far right emerged as a potentially major force in French politics with a record showing by its candidate Marine Le Pen in the first round of presidential elections.

Le Pen, who rails against European unity and what she says is the Islamization of France, took third place with more than 18 percent of the vote. Billing herself as the “anti-system candidate,” she wants to take France out of the eurozone and combats what she says is the tyranny of Brussels.

She has said from the start that Sarkozy is a has-been incapable of winning the election. “We are the sole viable opposition to the liberal left,” she said.

Le Pen predicted a rising arc for her party in the AP interview. “I think we’ll be in a situation to govern within 10 years,” she said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/french-anti-immigrant-far-right-worries-critics-after-soaring-in-presidential-vote/2012/04/22/gIQAKd4daT_story.html

Le Pen didn't finish among the top two so she is out of the presidential race, but it sounds like the National Front considers this a victory in defeat. The idea that they will take power within 10 years may be wishful thinking on her part, but France certainly has to be wary.

[Mass]

1. It is a victory for her, but it is largely a defeat for Sarkozy. He is the first president not to

come first in the first round results. His opponent , who had been labelled non-charismatic by the American media, gets the best score a socialist has ever gotten in France for the first round (with the exception of Mitterrand in 1974 when he was the only left-wing candidate, and in 1988, when he was running for reelection). And two others candidates, one on the left and one on the right get 8 and 11 % of the vote.

This points to the biggest humiliation of a president since 2002. I suspect the very high results Le Pen gets is due to the fact people on the right and the left hate Sarkozy (including many of those who voted for him). So it is hard to know whether this score is doable with a different candidate of the classical right. I just hope not.