by Geoffrey Churchman

While in the second tour of the Presidential Election of 2017 Marine Le Pen only won 2 of France’s 101 Départements, both in the north-east, it’s likely that this time she has won more, including most of the north-east and all of the Mediterranean coast — which is where many North African migrants settled after the disintegration of the French empire in the 1950s, and since added to by large numbers of migrants from French-speaking parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

Le Pen’s share of the vote has increased from 34% in 2017 (when her party was still named the Front National) to 42% this time under the banner of the Rassemblement national (National Rally). As former British PM John Major said on a TV interview, “you can be as Left Wing or Right Wing as you like, but you’re not going to win elections if you don’t capture the middle ground.” Thus Le Pen has softened her Euro-skepticism since 2017 and no longer calls for Frexit following the upset to the Globalists of Brexit. Nevertheless, the big financial contributions that France makes to the centralised, inefficient, extensive and expensive bureaucracy mostly run by unelected officials that is the EU is something that Macron will know he needs to deal with, to some extent at least.

Apart from economic policy, on which Macron is conservative pro-business, the disastrous social policies promoted by Leftists over the years, and more recently by Wokeists, have raised the hackles of much of the population. On the major problem of Islamism and numbers of Islamists, Marine Le Pen leaves no doubt that she and those who supported her want roll-back of the counter-culture that their ever-growing presence in the population have created.

According to this article she says:

“I am for the banning of the [Muslim hijab] in public space. The veil is a uniform imposed by the Islamists, a large part of the young women who put it on cannot do otherwise in reality, even if they dare not say so,” Le Pen told viewers.

“What you’re saying is very serious,” Macron responded. “You’re going to create civil war if you do it.”

However, polls show that the majority of the electorate side with Le Pen in supporting the banning of the veil.

A poll conducted last month showed 61 per cent were in favor of banning the veil.

A more recent survey found that 35 per cent were “totally for” banning the veil, while a further 25 per cent were “rather for” the move.

Perhaps Macron should be asking why France is accommodating so many people who would immediately resort to violence if their feelings are hurt.

The conflict in Ukraine would not have helped Le Pen given her long standing support for Russia’s President Putin and she had to distance herself from the invasion (she wasn’t the only candidate in the first round who had to), but the Globalists made sure that the topic was given prominence during the campaign, see here.

In fairness, Macron hasn’t been as anti-Russian, pro-Ukraine as for example, Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen (a German politician who is President of the European Commission) — and of course the NATO warmongers — but the Globalists should be happy regardless.

In short, it’s business as usual in France, but hopefully with some significant modifications.

Elections to the legislature (the 577 member Assemblée Nationale) scheduled for 12 and 19 June, may see more seats won by the National Rally.