As you may know, France is going to elect their new president this Sunday. Like five years ago, the final candidates are Emmanuel Macron, the current president, and Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right party Rassemblement National (RN – National Rally). It is the third time that a far-right leader is in the run-off for French presidency.
The first time was just 20 years ago in 2002 with the candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine Le Pen’s father and the party’s founder (then called Front National); the second time was in the last election with Marine Le Pen, in 2017.
Because of their history with Nazism, French people have always taken very seriously the danger of far-right parties, and therefore many mobilized to fight against the party in the 2002 and 2017 elections. In fact, the party lost blatantly both times (82% and 66% voted against them in 2002 and in 2017).
Although Macron seems leading in polls, Le Pen also seems to have chances to win this time, at least more than last time. The far-right has never been so close to presidency.
There are many reasons to it, but one is that Marine Le Pen has been working on “dédiaboliser” (de-demonize) the image of the party and her own. For example, she has worked on appearing less aggressive, giving friendly interviews at her home with her six cats. She also changed the name’s party. From the original name Front National (National Front), she changed it to Rassemblement National, a less confrontational name. The word “rassemblement” means “union,” “gathering,” “rally.” The name no longer sounds divisive, it seems now embracing all people. And also, the participation of Éric Zemmour, an even more far-right candidate who is regularly fined for hate speech, contributed to make her look moderate by contrast.
However, a far-right party will always be a far-right party: the political agenda is the same, whether it is presented in a pretty package or not. And former president François Hollande said it very well in the book “Un président ne devrait pas dire ça…” (A president shouldn’t say that…) published in 2016 by journalists Gérard Davet and Fabrice Lhomme. (The irony is that this book contributed to ruin Hollande’s chances to win his second term in 2017, but that is another story.)
« [Hollande] observe, en connaisseur, la stratégie de “normalisation” entreprise par Marine Le Pen, jugée ô combien plus dangereuse que son père, le vieux Jean-Marie, aux diatribes indignes, aux manières d’un autre temps. Car, comme il le rappelle, “la différence entre Jean-Marie Le Pen et Marine Le Pen n’est pas une question de contenu, c’est la même politique, la même philosophie, la même idéologie, mais c’est qu’il y en a une qui veut le pouvoir et l’autre qui ne le voulait pas”. »