The two French traditional parties, the Socialists and the Republicans, did not completely lose face this Sunday as had been feared, as the far-right party failed to win any of the council positions in this regional electoral runoff.
A different result had been feared, as the National Front, or FN, obtained the highest scores in the first round, one week ago — at the time leading in six regions out of 12 — successfully surfing the wave of the anti-immigrant sentiment sparked by the Paris attacks, in an atmosphere of increased security.
In terms of numbers of votes, Sunday’s score is nevertheless the party’s highest in history, even higher than the 2012 presidential election.
In the two regions where Marine Le Pen's FN scored more than 40 percent last Sunday, the Socialist Party decided to remove its candidates after the first round, in order to avoid a far-right victory, by transferring the left-wing vote toward the center-right coalition.
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According to the preliminary results, Sarkozy's The Republicans (former UMP) won 57 percent of the vote in the north-east region, while Marine Le Pen, who was running, received 42 percent.
In the south-east, the right scored 54 percent against Le Pen's niece, Marion Marechal, who got 46 percent.
Political analysts highlighted that the highest score was not obtained by the far-right party, as the abstention rate reached 50 percent this Sunday – 57 percent last week, interpreted as a symptom of a long-standing crisis of representative democracy in France.
“Thank you and bravo for freeing yourselves from indecent (voting) orders, from smear campaigns decided in the golden palaces of the Republic and slavishly executed by those who live in this system and bloom on the Frenches' backs,” said Marine Le Pen, stressing that her party will still be the first opposition party in the regional bodies.
Leader of the far left, Jean-Luc Melenchon, called for the Prime Minister's dismissal, “The government and the prime minister, responsible for this debacle, before anyone else, would wrongfully interpret a score obtained under threat and blackmail as a victory.”
The Socialists, currently in power, who have been criticized for implementing neoliberal economic policies, opted during the campaign to promote union with the center right, warning radical-left voters that they will be responsible for a far-right victory.
Hey, @partisocialiste, je te vends ton nouveau blase : Parti libéral de l'ordre et de l'union pour la France (PLOUF). Prix à discuter en DM.
— Olivier Cyran (@OlivierCyran)
diciembre 13, 2015
“Hey Socialist party, I will sell you your new name: Liberal Party of Order and Union for France (SPLASH).”
This strategy has largely served the far-right argument that voters should pick them because there was no difference between voting for the so called left or right in France – therefore invibilizing the radical left, which still struggles to appear different to the governmental left in the public’s perception.
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The progression toward the far-right among the French electorate is not new, it has been constantly growing over the past 30 years, with the help of the two traditional parties.
As for the left, since the first French socialist president, Francois Mitterand, it implemented an ambiguous strategy toward the far-right: officially opposing it, but letting in grow in elections in order to weaken the center-right. When Mitterrand introduced a proportional system in legislative elections in 1986, the far-right obtained 35 representatives.
La gauche perd le peuple puis lui reproche de mal voter sans jamais se demander pourquoi elle a créé un phénomène de rejet. #Regionales2015
— Dion Jack (@DionJack2)
6 Décembre 2015
“The [socialists] loses the people, then blame it for voting badly, without ever wondering why it created a phenomenon of repulsion [toward the left].”
Meanwhile, the right has gradually adopted common far-right topics, like immigration, security, and national identity, in a bid to attract the far-right vote.
Although Sarkozy's election proved this strategy was efficient in the short term, his government's consistent failure to address the country's economic problems disappointed the portion of the population that now votes more than ever for the National Front.
Recognizing the failure of this strategy, prominent figures in Sarkozy's party have recently started criticizing their leader more and more openly, calling for a return to more centrist discourse.