The anti-immigration party has been in the news this week, after predictions that they would take three regional elections in France. The result was unexpectedly poor however, with the party winning no regions. However they still have potential to influence French policy in the years to come. So who are the National Front?
The party was established in 1972 to unify the numerous nationalistic French movements, founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen. Although the group describes itself as neither right or left-wing, political commentators have defined it as right-wing, anti-immigration and eurosceptic. The party was strongly opposed to the introduction of the European Union
National Front has had a fair share of controversy over the years. The founder Jean-Marie Le Pen was often the spearhead of these controversies. Statements calling for the ghettoisation of AIDS sufferers in the 80’s,saying that the French football team had too many non-white players and referring to former French president Nicholas Sarkozy as ‘the foreigner’ in a 2007 election campaign. He has also been convicted of inciting racial hatred 6 time. In 1987, he made a statement that caused him to be fined over 2.7 million Francs when talking about the Holocaust. “I ask myself several questions. I’m not saying the gas chambers didn’t exist. I haven’t seen them myself. I haven’t particularly studied the question. But I believe it’s just a detail in the history of World War II.”
So with such a controversial leader, how did this party gain momentum in regional elections?
The key lies in the change of hands. Since 2011, the president of the party has been Marine Le Pen, the youngest daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen. Herself and her niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen have been targeting the eurosceptic and anti-immgration southern French regions.
Positioning themselves as a alternative to establishment politics, the leader and her niece have made their ideology more political and economic. Rather than focus more on issues of race and religions, they position themselves as more than simply a racist party.
Although they are against gay marriage, abortions, immigration and European politics, holding the other parties to account and using the Paris attacks along with the refugee crisis as talking points has made them appear more credible to some French citizens.
Results out yesterday show that National Front still have a long way to go, but as tensions over terrorism rise in France, so could too the power of the far-right.
Photos by David Oranje, videos From Vice, Financial Times and BBC