French far-right overtakes Macron in EU parliament election poll

[webfact]

French far-right overtakes Macron in EU parliament election poll

By Geert De Clercq

 

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a media conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, October 29, 2018. Michel Euler/Pool via REUTERS

 

PARIS (Reuters) - France's far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party jumped ahead of President Emmanuel Macron's LREM for the first time in a poll of voting intentions for May 2019 European Parliament elections.

 

An Ifop poll published on Sunday showed the centrist Republic on the Move (LREM) with 19 percent of voting intentions compared to 20 percent at the end of August, while far-right leader Marine Le Pen's RN -- formerly the National Front -- rose to 21 percent from 17 percent previously.

 

Together with the seven percent score of sovereignist Nicolas Dupont-Aignan and one percent each for "Frexit" parties led by former Le Pen associate Florian Philippot and Francois Asselineau, far-right parties won a combined 30 percent of voting intentions, up from 25 percent end August.

 

The poll asked nearly 1,000 French people on Oct 30-31 who they would vote for if the European Parliament elections were to be held the next Sunday.

 

The conservative Les Republicains party led by Laurent Wauquiez slipped two percentage points to 13 percent, while the far-left France Insoumise led by Jean-Luc Melenchon fell from 14 to 11 percent.

 

Melenchon was widely criticised and mocked after yelling at police officers during a raid of his party offices as part of an anti-corruption inquiry.

 

In an Odoxa-Dentsu poll released mid-September, Macron and Le Pen's parties were neck-and-neck at around 21 percent, while the conservative Les Republicains came third with 14 percent and Melenchon's France Insoumise fourth with 12.5 percent.

 

In an Ifop poll in May, the LREM was seen winning 27 percent of the EU parliament vote, well ahead of the far right's 17 percent and more than Macron's 24 percent in the first round of France's April 2017 presidential elections.

 

The European elections are shaping up to be a major battle between centrist, pro-EU parties like Macron's LREM and far-right formations that want to stop immigration and globalisation.

 

The European Parliament elections determine who leads the major EU institutions, including the European Commission, the bloc's civil service, and are also important as a bellwether of sentiment among the EU's 500 million people.

 

In a YouGov poll published last week, Macron's popularity fell to its lowest level since his 2017 election, with only 21 percent of those polled saying they were satisfied with him.

 

Macron's reputation has been hit by the brusque departure of two high-profile ministers and a summer scandal over his bodyguard, while stubbornly high unemployment, high taxes and rising fuel prices add to a general feeling of discontent.

 

(Reporting by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Helen Popper)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-05

[KiChakayan]

The rot is gaining... What can we do? I am sad.

[blazes]

Another nail in the coffin of the Eurocrats who tell individual countries to hold second, third or maybe more referendums until they get the result "right".  Love it.

[malagateddy]

Lets hope the puppet for big business gets his just desserts[emoji6]

Sent from my SM-G7102 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[mercman24]

well done the FRENCH keep it up, this little weasel is jus a mouthpiece for that other idiot Merkel, who does he think he is threatening the UK, we saved their asses TWICE.

[Chomper Higgot]

2 minutes ago, mercman24 said:

well done the FRENCH keep it up, this little weasel is jus a mouthpiece for that other idiot Merkel, who does he think he is threatening the UK, we saved their asses TWICE.

I take it that’s the ‘royal we’.

[lordblackader]

Everyone who disagrees with me is literally Hitler. 

 

Rassemblement Natonal is no further "far right" than the Republican Party in the U.S. 

 

[mfd101]

Some irony in the anti-European parties winning more seats in the European parliament ...

 

But irony isn't a strong point with fascists of right or left. Irony is for intelligent & rational people who understand the complexities of the world.

[Krataiboy]

We could do with a few more Nigels in Brussels.

[anterian]

Excellent news, the EU is finally crumbling as the people reject centralised Brussels bureaucracy. 

[JAG]

3 minutes ago, anterian said:

Excellent news, the EU is finally crumbling as the people reject centralised Brussels bureaucracy. 

It has still got a long way to go - perhaps it is a start.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, KiChakayan said:

The rot is gaining... What can we do? I am sad.

I suppose we all should join the Russian federation, which would make all the Far Right folks utterly happy.

 

 

[JAG]

2 minutes ago, oilinki said:

I suppose we all should join the Russian federation, which would make all the Far Right folks utterly happy.

 

 

As "lord Blackadder" pointed out, the RN is not particularly "far right wing". They do seem to have quite considerable support (+/-30%), very few of whom, if any, would be remotely interested in joining the Russian Federation!

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, JAG said:

As "lord Blackadder" pointed out, the RN is not particularly "far right wing". They do seem to have quite considerable support (+/-30%), very few of whom, if any, would be remotely interested in joining the Russian Federation!

In that case, I wonder, why Reuters reported RN to be France's Far Right party?

Sell few more clicks? Give an impression that far right is still a strong force in Europe?

 

Perhaps we should redefine the terms we are using for the political parties and movements. 

[mfd101]

If they were Usofan, Rassemblement national would be about on the rightwing of the Democratic Party [secretly socialist but also not-so-secretly xenophobic]. If they were Australian, they would be on the rightwing of the Liberal party.

 

In politics, where you finish depends on where you start. And the meanings of words vary accordingly - just look at what the word 'liberal' means in Usofa (Communist under the bed) or in France (rightwing Anglo-Saxon conspiracy) or in Oz (a teensy bit right of centre) or in UK (genteel middle-of-every-road yawn).

[CALSinCM]

One day maybe EU citizens will understand that the carefully buffed and spit-shined globalist candidates that they vote for don't have the average citizen's best interests in mind.  Which is exactly why populace movements are growing and will continue to gain strength. 

[roobaa01]

6 minutes ago, CALSinCM said:

One day maybe EU citizens will understand that the carefully buffed and spit-shined globalist candidates that they vote for don't have the average citizen's best interests in mind.  Which is exactly why populace movements are growing and will continue to gain strength. 

so mote it be.

wbr

roobaa01

[Krataiboy]

55 minutes ago, oilinki said:

In that case, I wonder, why Reuters reported RN to be France's Far Right party?

Sell few more clicks? Give an impression that far right is still a strong force in Europe?

 

Perhaps we should redefine the terms we are using for the political parties and movements. 

The left has occupied the centre ground across the West, to the extent that anything even vaguely conservative is now branded far right by the Establishment and its tame mouthpieces in the mass media.

[roobaa01]

4 minutes ago, Krataiboy said:

The left has occupied the centre ground across the West, to the extent that anything even vaguely conservative is now branded far right by the Establishment and its tame mouthpieces in the mass media.

what western europe ??? then the left does not occupy any centre.

 

wbr

roobaa01

[Rimmer]

An off topic post removed

[Brunolem]

26 minutes ago, Krataiboy said:

The left has occupied the centre ground across the West, to the extent that anything even vaguely conservative is now branded far right by the Establishment and its tame mouthpieces in the mass media.

France really has two parties: the socialists and the so-called far right.

 

Far right because the socialists are so numerous that they also occupy the seats on the right side, disguised as centrists.

 

Compared with what is going on in the US, on both sides of Congress, the positions and rhetoric of the French far right appear moderate.

 

The problem with Western Europe, and not only France, is that  their populations are getting very old, so much so that the elderlies have a disproportionate influence on election results.

 

It is known that Macron was elected thanks to the votes of the elderlies, and it is probably the same with Merkel.

 

The elderlies don't vote for the future of the country, they vote for their pensions, and they are terrorized by the idea of change!

 

In 2017, the French had plenty of candidates to chose from, and they got the one who symbolized all that they don't want!

 

So, after one year they are already fed up, and will throw him to the wolves like Hollande and Sarkozy before...the problem is that in 2022 there will be even more elderlies!

 

Hopeless...

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

France really has two parties: the socialists and the so-called far right.

 

Far right because the socialists are so numerous that they also occupy the seats on the right side, disguised as centrists.

 

Compared with what is going on in the US, on both sides of Congress, the positions and rhetoric of the French far right appear moderate.

Indeed. The other way to say this is that USA has only far right and right parties. Even the word "socialism" is mixed with communism and therefore it's probably soon to be called as "S-word".

 

UK is a lot more conservative / money focused than the rest of Europe. 

 

 

[bristolboy]

5 hours ago, mercman24 said:

well done the FRENCH keep it up, this little weasel is jus a mouthpiece for that other idiot Merkel, who does he think he is threatening the UK, we saved their asses TWICE.

Can you share with us your contribution to saving France twice? Does it involve time travel?

[bristolboy]

5 hours ago, lordblackader said:

Everyone who disagrees with me is literally Hitler. 

 

Rassemblement Natonal is no further "far right" than the Republican Party in the U.S. 

 

Actually, this post demonstrates the level of ignorance about the RN. In fact, in its economic stance, it would qualify as quite left wing. 

And as for its attitude to the EU and the Euro, it actually booted out the anti-EU and anti-Euro faction, because that position turned out to be unpopular with its consituency.

It's mainly on the immigrant issue and  that it tracks closely with the current Republican party. And on russia it tracks closely with Trump.

[Sir Dude]

The intolerant left still hasn't figured it out that they are the cause of the recent rise of the right and in many cases it's the far left that has done it. Look no further than the UK, the "conservatives" or Tory party are hardly conservative really, they are a light center left party now. There hasn't been a real conservative party in the UK for a very long time. As for the current labour party...well, it is far left now with all sorts of comrades running around in it dreaming up nonsense. The lefty project of the last few decades is bringing about the rise of what they fear most...the right. This would not be happening without the left's intolerance to anything it perceives as illiberal but the illiberal liberals are creating this for themselves, no-one else to blame. Most people agree with many mild center left or right ideas and policies (like center left for social and center right for economics for example) but the extremes of both sides only offer intolerance and failure...parties need to be not too hot and not too cold but we are seeing ever most polarization and venom from all sides. It is a sad reflection that many societies have now become so polarized and intolerant of everything other than what they think/want. Many have lost the ability to listen...not a good sign imo.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Sir Dude
Typos

[roobaa01]

this is a bit ot...saw yesterday foxtv the mod. asking a dem if the caravan migrant would have a constitutional right to enter the usa yes or no, dems answered...he did'nt know....well every 1rst grade kid could answer that question.

 

wbr

roobaa01

[bristolboy]

2 minutes ago, roobaa01 said:

this is a bit ot...saw yesterday foxtv the mod. asking a dem if the caravan migrant would have a constitutional right to enter the usa yes or no, dems answered...he did'nt know....well every 1rst grade kid could answer that question.

 

wbr

roobaa01

Thanks for sharing with us your method of acquiring data. That explains a lot.

[Krataiboy]

22 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Actually, this post demonstrates the level of ignorance about the RN. In fact, in its economic stance, it would qualify as quite left wing. 

And as for its attitude to the EU and the Euro, it actually booted out the anti-EU and anti-Euro faction, because that position turned out to be unpopular with its consituency.

It's mainly on the immigrant issue and  that it tracks closely with the current Republican party. And on russia it tracks closely with Trump.

Yet a quick search of RN pulls up endless "far right" references.

 

Clearly a case of give a dog a bad name. . . 

[Krataiboy]

1 hour ago, roobaa01 said:

what western europe ??? then the left does not occupy any centre.

 

wbr

roobaa01

Can you put that in English?

[bristolboy]

4 minutes ago, Krataiboy said:

Yet a quick search of RN pulls up endless "far right" references.

 

Clearly a case of give a dog a bad name. . . 

Given the RN's origins, it's really not surprising that it has a bad name.