Le
Pen’s revolt against France’s political class
French
elites still have not come to grips with the success of the National
Front.
By NICHOLAS VINOCUR
12/11/15, 5:30 AM CET
PARIS — French
far-right leader Marine Le Pen is riding a revolt against a political
class that voters view as ever more detached, arrogant and powerless
to solve the country’s long-standing problems.
In the wake of her
National Front party’s strong first-round election showing on
Sunday, that is the explanation many political experts are advancing
for the Le Pen phenomenon, based on years of studying the voting
population. Voters are not rejecting the Left or Right, they say, but
rather a system of privilege which many see as protecting its members
from paying for their failures.
“It’s a feeling
that we come across in many of our studies, both qualitative and
quantitative,” said François Miquet-Marty, a sociologist and
pollster for Viavoice. “French people have lost respect for
diplomas and brilliant careers, because they have the feeling that
such trappings no longer mean that the person can bring political
results.”
“As more voters
see their leaders as powerless, they are also putting more stock in
the idea of being close to the people — which Le Pen embodies
organically,” Miquet-Marty added.
In a country that
reveres diplomas and still filters most of its ruling class through
the École nationale d’administration, a tiny elite school of
administration known as ENA, the spirit of defiance is stronger than
in other European countries, Miquet-Marty and others say.
A widening gulf has
emerged between cosmopolitan, urban France and the “periphery.”
It has opened up a
widening gulf between cosmopolitan, urban France and the “periphery,”
a vast chunk of the country whose residents are cut off from the
benefits of globalization, according to an influential study by
geographer Christophe Guilluy.
The National Front
president herself acknowledged the split in a speech Sunday, inviting
more voters to “turn their backs” on the political class.
However, this
explanation is far from being dominant in France. After Sunday’s
poll result, the best-yet for Le Pen, one op-ed in Le Monde argued
that her success was due to a collapse in critical thinking
abilities. Another in the same paper, signed by staff, diagnosed
terrorism, the migration crisis and unemployment as the main drivers
— but without blaming any people.
“Many politicians
think that voters would come around if only they can educate them
about the FN,” added Miquet-Marty. “But at this point, the
teacherly approach has become counter-productive. People see the
leaders as powerless.”
Job for life
Other specialists
pin the divorce to France’s tradition of cultivating career
politicians. President François Hollande and his main center-right
rival, ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, are both political lifers who
may compete for the presidency again in 2017, despite having both
presided over long periods of economic weakness.
In parliament, MPs
keep their seats even after egregious violations. Patrick Balkany, a
center-right MP convicted of misusing public funds in the 1990s and
placed under formal investigation for similar crimes this year, still
warms a seat in the National Assembly. Others who fail to win
re-election or get ousted from office, like ex-finance minister
Pierre Moscovici, find refuge in places such the European Commission,
or European Parliament.
While all countries
cultivate elites, the recycling of familiar faces is marked in
France, perhaps more so than in Germany or Britain. Politicians can
couple the office of mayor with that of deputy or senator, as well as
other positions — all of which come with privileges in cash or
kind. And though Hollande banned the practice of “cumulating
mandates,” as holding several offices is known, the law will not
come into effect until 2017.
“Most of our
politicians have never had any other job than politics, so their main
concern is getting re-elected,” said Alain Garrigou, a historian
and political scientist who has written about polling and elites.
“The professionalization is getting more pronounced, rather than
the contrary.”
Elites and their
privileges are part of France’s political DNA. What has changed is
that such privileges appear disconnected from power, as politicians
seem unable to solve problems ranging from security worries to
declining public services in many parts of the country, to
chronically high unemployment (the rate has been stuck above 9
percent, more or less without interruption, since the mid-1980s).
The EU is a frequent
scapegoat for such powerlessness, real or perceived. Hemmed in by
spending constraints, French ministers struggle on TV and radio to
explain reforms that seem to have little effect on the economy,
devaluing their speech in the process.
As a result,
widening swathes of voters are looking for radical alternatives with
the FN, which is only starting to become part of the political class.
How else to explain
that Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, a 26-year-old with a law degree, is on
the brink of running a region the size of Belgium?
No big deal
While Le Pen’s
party has progressed at the polls in every election since she took
over its leadership in 2011, there has been little real
soul-searching about the causes of her rise.
After a slew of
headlines expressing “SHOCK” at Sunday’s result, analysts
quickly skipped over the deep problems to deal with the immediate
issue — how to stop the FN from winning regional presidencies.
Mainstream party
leaders will soon refocus on their real priority: the 2017
presidential election.
One reason for this
is that ruling elites don’t feel seriously threatened by Le Pen.
Hollande, for
instance, is reported to have reacted positively to the vote. His
Socialist party did somewhat less horribly than expected, and
Sarkozy’s Les Républicains did significantly worse than he had
hoped. On Sunday, the FN is unlikely to win more than one or two
regions, due to the blocking maneuvers put in place by rival parties.
That will allow
mainstream party leaders to refocus on their real priority, which is
the 2017 presidential election. And on that score, the standard
armchair analysis is reassuring for the political class. For even if
Le Pen comes in first place during the first round, followed either
by Hollande, Sarkozy or Alain Juppé, depending on who wins a party
primary in 2016, she will ultimately lose to a mainstream rival in
the final runoff round.
A familiar face will
then take office at the Elysée presidential palace for another five
years, during which time Le Pen is unlikely to disappear.
And then what?
As police here say
when gawkers gather around a car wreck: “Circulez, rien à voir.”
(“Keep moving, nothing to see here.”)
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