French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has warned of a potential “civil war” in his country if the far-right National Front wins in the upcoming regional elections and sets the pace for the 2017 presidential polls.
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“It makes no sense economically that public money goes to help foreign workers and migrants in a region where unemployment is higher than national average”, Marechal-Le Pen told Reuters in an interview last month.
The Republicans pushed the ruling Socialists into third place in the first round.
A TNS-Sofres poll showed Ms Le Pen, who heads the party list in the rustbelt north-eastern region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, behind the Republicans’ Mr Xavier Bertrand by 47 per cent to 53 per cent. Likewise for her niece, Marion Marechal-Le Pen, running in the southern region of Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur against conservative Nice Mayor Claude Estrosi. “She has the capacity to deliver”, Marc Lecointe, a 40-year-old finance professional, said at a Paris rally Thursday that brought together all 13 National Front candidates. “There is an option which is that of the extreme right, which basically advocates the division which may lead to civil war and there is another vision which is that of the Republic”, Valls said.
That’s not to say the Front National is at odds with Trump’s sentiment, likely just how he said it. Le Pen’s party runs on a strong anti-immigration plank, campaigning for a huge reduction in legal immigration, the prioritisation of French citizens over immigrants in social housing and jobs, the deportation of foreign criminals and a zero tolerance approach to illegal immigration.
The French model “has been abandoned in favor of the multicultural ideal, a kind of right to be different that I profoundly believe contributes to the French fracture”, she said.
Le Pen softened her usually trenchant stance in a reach-out to left and right, saying her party represents a new way where “patriots” respect the interests of the regions and clans and “political fraud” have no place. Le Pen is in the race for the presidency of the French northern region.
But Sunday’s vote in some areas is expected to be close, and these elections are being watched for signs of what position the FN now occupies in French politics, our correspondent says.
The National Front’s long-standing calls to increase security and lock out immigrants dovetailed this year with two deadly attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris and an unusually large influx of migrants to Europe.
For Sarkozy, who was hoping a landslide victory would boost his chances for re-election in 2017, the first round was a severe disappointment that weakened his hand within his Republicans party. The way you’re supposed to play the game is with formally neutral policy initiatives – something like a ban on Syrian refugees or on wearing religious attire in school – that happen to target Muslim populations. “The FN’s biggest advantage is that it is not tainted by the errors of others”.
Much attention will also be focused on the northeast Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine region, where the Socialist candidate rejected his party’s call to drop out of the run-offs.
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It should also be noted that France’s two-round voting system will prevent the National Front from controlling all the regions where it performed well December 6.
