Extreme Right Scores Highly in French Survey

[Fade the Butcher]

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_info&article=355221&lng=1


France’s extreme right and its most prominent leader Jean Marie Le Pen are still forces to be reckoned with, according to a poll published in the Metro a national newspaper.

More than a third of French voters surveyed say the extreme right, represented largely by Le Pen and his National Front party, comes closest to addressing national concerns.

Speaking on national television, Le Pen said he was capable of winning when France goes to the polls a year from now.

Le Pen caused a political shock four years ago when he made it to the presidential run-off. He was ultimately defeated by incumbent President Jacques Chirac.

A third of voters surveyed credit the extreme right with enriching political debate in France.

Support for the extreme right remains strongest in rural areas.

Analysts say the wave of rioting which swept the country last year and recent mass protests against a controversial labour law have helped the extreme right to consolidate its following.

[Ambrosio Spinola]

The french parlamentary voting system is rigged so that Le Pen will never smell power no matter how many million voters he gets.

[Jimbo Gomez]

They have the majority system, but even more crooked than in Britain. He may get a few seats in parliament, but that's it.

[Jake Featherston]

They have the majority system, but even more crooked than in Britain. He may get a few seats in parliament, but that's it.
The winner-take-all, run-off system that France uses to elect its parliamentary deputies does seem likely to limit the Front Nationale's ability to win more than a handful of seats, although I have no doubt they will win some (which is better than their present zero). But what of the Presidency? The Islamist riots have certainly boosted LePen's credibility as a candidate, and assuming Sarkozy or deVillepin doesn't knock him out of the run-off, I should think 40% of the vote is not unlikely. He'd have to be running against a real turkey to take a majority, however (barring another major event, in which case all bets are off). I suspect Chirac is not quite enough of a turkey to push LePen into the Presidency, alas.