The first test of the French election is this Sunday, April 23. In the first round of voting, the French will head to the polls and select their favorite candidate for president, but only the two with the most votes move on for round two.
The world cares about this election because it does not exist in isolation. In many ways, this election exists in a series of tests for Western democracies. France’s election has surmontable populist discourse, potential Russian interference and fake news, and a rise of a non-traditional candidate campaigning for the rights of the everyday worker. Sound familiar?
The populist rhetoric has been a particular focus. A leading candidate, Marine Le Pen, is the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen. The father started the party the National Front (NF) which gave legitimacy and a platform to populist, nativist discourse.
While many scholars disagree on how to measure populism, a way to define it in today’s context is an advocacy to secure borders and lead a cohort of everyday people back to an imagined, previous condition of the state that they believe once existed. Mr. Le Pen, however, isolated support from the NF in the early 2000’s when he made controversial and anti-semitic statements about the German holocaust.
His daughter, conversely, has disavowed his statements and arguably brought support back to the party this year, as indicated by a rise in French public opinion polling. But Marine Le Pen, the daughter, still holds that frenchmen need to cut back on the amount of refugees and Muslims the country should accept. She’s even gone so far to advocate for an elimination of religious symbols in the public sphere, including prohibiting Muslim women from wearing burqas. She represents an unapologetically populist party and may make it to France’s second round of voting.
She also met with Kremlin Vladimir Putin last month, although that is not the only indication of Russian interference of the French election. Earlier this week, a report came out on the news site Sputnik that former prime minister François Fillon picked up significant lead in the polls. As it turns out, other polling data suggests that he has not. Sputnik is a news site funded by the Russian state, and Mr. Fillon is a longtime favorite of Kremlin Putin. While the Russian interference in the American election was largely denied by many, even congressional Republicans like Richard Burr cannot deny Putin’s presence in the French election.
Furthermore, there has been a rise of a largely dismissed candidate. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, an experienced leftist politician, has seen an increase in support among young educated frenchmen. He is an open admirer of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez; he advocates against capitalism and for a more democratized form of citizen participation not just from the rich. His rallies are large and well attended as he speaks in abstract and sometimes poetic policy mentions while little on tangible proposals.
While this may seem nostalgic, it is not far way. The French have held a resentment of American politics for a long time, but their election mirrors trends that extend to multiple political contexts. The French election does not just speak to France, it speaks to the future of Western democracies.
The populism and racism from Marine Le Pen mirrors the winning campaign promises of Donald Trump. The Russian interference through the dispersion of fake news mirrors issues the American FBI is now investigating. The rise of a leftist, ideologically charged candidate mirrors the promises and divisions created by Senator Bernie Sanders. France can legitimize these trends with the vote on Sunday, or they can set a new course for Western democracies. So juniors, if you think your study abroad to Paris is a therapeutic escape of the American political climate, think again.