With a presidential election looming in France - actually, in April - what the outcome might be should be of interest especially given the myriad of issues confronting France, and more widely, the EU. Nothing new in the Le Pen name figuring in French elections, but this piece on FP highlights Marine Le Pen - and suggest that she could be compared to America's Newt Gingrich as she plugs into all the critical issues in France.
"With rising unemployment, controversial austerity measures, another recession, and striking personal unpopularity, it's not shocking that French President Nicolas Sarkozy faces a steep climb to reelection in May. But the center-right leader's greatest obstacle is not his front-running opponent, the Socialist François Hollande, but the far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, France's political equivalent, in many ways, of America's Newt Gingrich.
Le Pen may not look much like America's doughy, retirement-age former House speaker. After all, France's insurgent on the right is a feisty, scratchy-voiced, cigarette-smoking 43-year-old blond woman. But the two have plenty in common, including their knack for playing the outsider, media-bashing, and channeling fury at the "elite's" privileged status quo. Most significantly, they both have a notable opportunity to wreck the chances of the right's "natural candidate" for the presidency.
Less than three months before the French begin first-round voting, an Ifop poll released Feb. 3 shows Hollande with 27 percent, Sarkozy with 18 percent, and Le Pen actually ahead of the president with 24 percent. Such a score on Le Pen's part would amount to a historic victory for her National Front in a first-round election, but it might actually be even higher given that polls have often underestimated her party's share of the electorate -- many voters have traditionally been uncomfortable coming out in support of a far-right candidate. Le Pen might even be capable of actually winning the first-round vote (i.e., surpassing both Sarkozy and Hollande). A recent poll suggests that her first-round electoral ceiling could be as high as 30 percent. At this point, neither of the two traditional ruling-party candidates can take for granted that they will make the runoff."
"With rising unemployment, controversial austerity measures, another recession, and striking personal unpopularity, it's not shocking that French President Nicolas Sarkozy faces a steep climb to reelection in May. But the center-right leader's greatest obstacle is not his front-running opponent, the Socialist François Hollande, but the far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, France's political equivalent, in many ways, of America's Newt Gingrich.
Le Pen may not look much like America's doughy, retirement-age former House speaker. After all, France's insurgent on the right is a feisty, scratchy-voiced, cigarette-smoking 43-year-old blond woman. But the two have plenty in common, including their knack for playing the outsider, media-bashing, and channeling fury at the "elite's" privileged status quo. Most significantly, they both have a notable opportunity to wreck the chances of the right's "natural candidate" for the presidency.
Less than three months before the French begin first-round voting, an Ifop poll released Feb. 3 shows Hollande with 27 percent, Sarkozy with 18 percent, and Le Pen actually ahead of the president with 24 percent. Such a score on Le Pen's part would amount to a historic victory for her National Front in a first-round election, but it might actually be even higher given that polls have often underestimated her party's share of the electorate -- many voters have traditionally been uncomfortable coming out in support of a far-right candidate. Le Pen might even be capable of actually winning the first-round vote (i.e., surpassing both Sarkozy and Hollande). A recent poll suggests that her first-round electoral ceiling could be as high as 30 percent. At this point, neither of the two traditional ruling-party candidates can take for granted that they will make the runoff."
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