Monday, May 26, 2014

National Front Smashes French Establishment in European Parliament Elections

At the Guardian UK, "Front National wins European parliament elections in France."

And at Telegraph UK, "EU elections 2014: France's Hollande holds crisis talks on record far-Right win":


President François Hollande staged a crisis cabinet meeting at the Elysée Palace this morning as France reeled from the “earthquake” of seeing the far-Right Front National come first in European elections.

The deeply unpopular Mr Hollande scrambled his government to find ways to parry what is the French Socialist Party’s worst score since European elections were first held in 1979.

The president may make a televised statement reacting to the rout that saw Marine Le Pen’s FN come top in a nationwide vote for the first time in its 40-year history. Sunday’s election saw FN clinch almost 25 per cent of the vote, according to IFOP, quadrupling its 2009 score.

Miss Le Pen said it constituted a "massive rejection of the European Union" and a desire for “politics by the French, for the with the French". “They don’t want to be led anymore from outside, to submit to laws,” she insisted.

The FN finished well ahead of the opposition centre-Right UMP of Nicolas Sarkozy, on 20.8 per cent, and which remains deeply split over Europe and appears on course for another bloody leadership battle.

The ruling Socialists mustered less than 14 per cent with the centrist UDI-Modem on 9.9 per cent and the Greens on 8.9 per cent.

This suggests the FN will now have 24 seats in the European Parliament of the 74 allotted to France – up from three in 2009 – leaving the UMP with 20, the Socialists with 13, the centrists with seven and the Greens with six.

While other parties’ main message on Europe appeared ill-defined or even divided, "the Front National was able to mobilise the electorate thanks to a clear line on Europe and immigration”, Joël Gombin, an FN expert, told Le Nouvel Observateur.
Hmm, I wonder if these result have implication for the 2014 midterms back in the states? Perhaps there's a desire for "politics by the Americans, for the with the Americans."

PREVIOUSLY: "UKIP's Political Earthquake."


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