Country of the color of the sea wave

The second round of regional elections was held in France. The sensation of the first round, held on December 6, was the success of the extreme right -right party "National Front", which received almost 30% of the vote. Which of the French and why votes for nationalists - the New Times sorted out

A supporter of the National Front in the headdress with portraits of Marin Le Pen and Marion Maresal-Le Pen, France, Marseille, December 9, 2015

San Laren Bloches-a small town in the north of France with a population of a little more than 6 thousand people. In the elections, about half of the registered voters - 2834 people voted here, as well as the national average. Of these, for the National Front, Marine Le Pen - 1362, for the social party - 357 and 346 for the right. “The city, which was“ left -wing ”five years ago, voted for the Communists and Socialists, now supported the national front,” explains Philip, a local resident who helped to count the voice. In France, everyone can participate in the counting - the chairman of the commission is gaining volunteers right on the day of the elections from those who came to vote.

In the spring of 2012, Philip, along with his wife, voted in the presidential election for Francois Hollande. Socialists promised to prevent the closure of the nylon thread factory, on which he and his wife worked. However, in less than a month after the election, how the company was liquidated. More than three hundred employees were on the labor exchange. There is no other work in the city, the youth leaves to study in Lill and does not return back. Philip got a job as a driver for a bus company engaged in international transportation, so it is now rare at home. But for the sake of the December regional elections, he specially returned home.

The European Union did not see this

The success of the National Front in the first round was a historical result not only for France, but of the entire European Union. The party Marin Le Pen received first place in 6 of 13 regions of the country, and now has every chance to head regional councils, at least in one or two regions. The political map of France repainted in a dark blue color-the color of the frontists. This color, in French, Bleu Marine-is simultaneously an allusion addressed to the party leader-Marine Le Pen. After the first round of elections, the dark blue became half of the regions of the country-in the north, east and south. Although it was precisely such results that were predicted, France woke up in the morning after the day of the shock.

Despite the fact that nationalists, against the backdrop of a migration crisis, are gaining popularity everywhere in Europe, the victory of the National Fleet in the French regions, comparable in the population with Denmark or Norway, struck all the old light - this will become a precedent for European politics. Never before in the history of the European Union, not a single extreme right party has managed to get an absolute majority of votes at either the national or regional level alone. Nationalists fell into the governments of various European countries only through coalition with other parties.

Marin Le Pen did not prevent the success of the success that the parliamentary investigation of the sources of financing of the National Front is still in the National Assembly. The reason for the audit was the exposure of the online publication of Mediapart, which published in November 2014 information that the party Marine Le Pen received € 9 million from the first Czech-Russian bank on a favorable terms. As it turned out later, Le Pen managed to find this source of financing shortly after the trip of the associates of the National Fleet leader to the referendum to the Crimea on March 16, 2014 and the statements of Marin Le Pen about the “undeniable” referendum results.

Voting suffering

However, the voters Marin Le Pen are not interested in the foreign "friends" of the National Front, and they do not read Mediapart investigations. According to sociological surveys, 43% of voting for the National Fleet is workers and employees, 36% of the voters Marin Le Pen had an unfinished secondary education. For comparison: only 23% of the supporters of the Republican party, led by ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, do not have a certificate of secondary education, and among the voters of the Socialist Party such 20%.

“When people are bad, they vote for the National Fleet. A map of the unemployment of France, a map of the standard of living, demography - completely coincide with the voting map for nationalists. This is a vote of suffering, ”said Benois April, representative of the Republican party. This statement can definitely be considered fair for the north of France. The Nor-Pa-de-Kale-Picardia region is the unemployment record holder and the outflow of youth.

Meanwhile, in the town of Enen-Bomon, 30 kilometers from Lille for a year and a half, the city hall was headed by the representative of the National Front Steve Briua. Local residents are sure: the party owes their success in the regional elections in this city, where the National Fleet received a list of National Front, the party is obliged to the mayor personally. As the townspeople explain, Briua is a “real business executive” who, in a year and a half, returned the city to the city an attractive appearance, which had previously destroyed for decades of the power of the socialist mayor.

“When people are bad, they vote for the national front. A map of the unemployment of France, the standard of living, demography completely coincides with the voting map for nationalists "

It is for this reason that Marin Le Pen, who headed the list of nationalists in Nor-Pa-de-Kale Picardia, decided to organize a festive party after the elections in Enene-Bomon. But a large hangar type, rented for the holiday, turned out to be half empty by evening. Only the most devoted supporters reached the unremarkable town in the north, for example, two pensioners from neighboring Belgium, who had traveled 120 kilometers to declare that they feel “more by the French than the Belgians” this evening.

“Traditional parties say that the National Front is a threat to“ republican values, ”because they have nothing more to say,” the young party activist Jean-Batist, a student of the law faculty, who came to Enene-Bombron from Lille, joins the enthusiastic debate about the National Film. “The National Front is the only alternative to the Right -Social Party system. Two traditional parties “under different signs, in essence, conduct the same program, from which we cannot get rid of for decades,” the young man is indignant.

The authorities are afraid to talk aloud about the real problems of France, explains supporters Marine Le Pen. “Money is spent pointlessly and do not bring any benefit to the inhabitants of the region,” is sure the other elderly supporter of the National Franca National Francois. - Instead, the authorities spend the budget on migrants. This has already become unbearable. There is no more chance of receiving medical care - we are now treated with migrants in hospitals. We cannot share suffering with migrants. It is necessary to stop financing all associations that are engaged in the help of refugees, ”the woman is indignant.

The words about migrants in the speeches of the supporters of the National Front incorrectly follows the topic of security. Here the positions of the electorate of nationalists are also not distinguished by originality: “We should not live with open borders after what happened on November 13,” the young frontist Jean-Batista is sure, “we need to establish a transport police, and install surveillance chambers on schools.”

“It has already become unbearable. There is no more chance of receiving medical care - we are now treated with migrants in hospitals. We cannot share suffering with migrants. It is necessary to stop financing all associations that are engaged in the help of refugees "

Safety has become perhaps the main theme of the National Front election campaign. However, the speculations on terrorist attacks, successfully sold by nationalists to their electorate in the regions, found a weak response in Paris. In the metropolitan region, the frontists were only in third place.

"Favorite of all"

Unlike the depressive north of France, it is difficult to call the National Fleet voters in the south of the country. Nevertheless, there, in the region of Provence-Lypa-lazurn coast, niece Marin Le Pen and the granddaughter of the founder of National Front, 25-year-old Marion Maresal-Le Pen, bypassed a large margin in the first round of the experimental politician-the mayor of Nice and the former Minister of the Sarkozy era Christian Estrozi.

“The favorite of all” - as the granddaughter of the founder of the National Front characterizes even its political competitors. If the image of Marin Le Pen repels many with his sharpness, gesture statements, then Marion Maresal-Le Pen can defeat everyone with his smile and charm, which gets along with firmness in following political principles and confident manner of debate. “It is impossible to ignore it, with perseverance and charm, she breaks through the road everywhere,” her youngest deputy of the National Assembly of her parliament colleague describes, “initially no one gave her hands, and now she was kissing her cheek at a meeting with everyone.”

The electorate of the National Front in the south is farmers and small entrepreneurs, economically configured quite liberally. The discourse of aunts and nieces differs in the same way as their electorate. The more religious Marion Maresal-Le Pen found a lively response among the advancers for the traditional values ​​of rural Catholics after a proposal to deprive centers for planning a family of financing because of their position on artificial termination of pregnancy.

Non -union business

Meanwhile, at the headquarters of nationalists in Enene-Bomon there is a climax of the evening after the elections: Marin Le Pen addresses his associates with a victorious speech-dozens of television cameras broadcast not just the performance of the leader of the first round, but one of the favorites of the upcoming presidential campaign in a year and a half. “This vote showed what everyone had known for a long time, but officials did not want to admit: the National Front became the first political power of France,” said Marine Le Pen. In her short speech, there was no place for a single word about the region that she is going to lead.

However, she will say about the region the next morning. The priority measure of the leader of the National Fleet, if the head of the regional council, will be the termination of all international cooperation programs. “I think that this is not the role of the region at all - to pay for anti -mosquito nets for prisoners in the senegal as part of the struggle against malaria.” The ambitions of Marin Le Pen, obviously, extend much further than the desire to lead the depressive north of France for the next six years and engage in the improvement of lyceums, the construction of roads and the problems of garbage disposal.

All experts agree on: the result of regional elections is important not so much in itself. It is an indicator of political moods in society a year and a half before the presidential election. Marin Le Pen has already stated that she was hoping at least to go on a second round by voting in 2017. Given the catastrophically low ratings of the current socialist President Francois Hollande and discord in the ranks of the leadership of the Republican Right Party, the application of the leader of nationalists does not seem so unreasonable.

Political map of France after the 1st round of regional elections Source: www.reets.com
Photo: Reuters/Jean-Paul Pelissier