Vote the Liberal Elite, Not The Fascist!

Back in November, I wrote that the United States of America had to undergo a long, dark night of the soul, as it faced the wait to find out whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton was to become president. That dark night has since transformed into a living nightmare for the United States.

Yet all of that could be a picnic in comparison to what could happen this weekend. The French are undergoing a presidential election which is more like an existential crisis than a dark night of the soul. On Sunday, the electorate faces a choice between Emmanuel Macron, a former Socialist economy minister and investment banker turned independent centrist, and Marine Le Pen, leading a 'reformed' version of the Front National, a political party founded by former Nazi collaborators, Holocaust deniers, and those who wanted France to keep hold of Algeria by whatever means necessary.

The French political spectrum is in chaos, with neither of the two 'main' political parties having made the run off round of voting. Les Republicains have been punished for the scandals of the nominee, Francois Fillon. And the Parti Socialiste is paying for the troubled presidency of Francois Hollande; the wound is possibly fatal. France has economically stagnated for years, and faces deep and chronic social and cultural fissures. Elections at moments like these can be defining.

However, this should not be a hard choice. One of the two in the final round is a fascist, no matter how they dress it up. The other is not. Even if you disagree profoundly with Macron's programme, as many in France do, when confronted with a ballot paper showing only a fascistic and a non-fascistic option, there can only be one choice. Those on the French hard-left who are unable to stomach Macron are playing with fire in choosing Le Pen.

In 2002, a splintered voting scene saw Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine's father, ease into the second round against Jacques Chirac. The result was extraordinary. 'Vote the crook, not the fascist,' was the left's rallying cry. The cordon sanitaire held, and Chirac destroyed Le Pen in a landslide, as voters from the centre-left and hard-left flocked to his candidacy. They didn't do so because they were enthused by another five years of Gaullist right. They did so because they realised that to put the Front National into power would be profoundly damaging to themselves, France, and the rest of Europe.

An anti Le Pen rally, 2002

I am not going to predict what will happen tomorrow. A look back on this blog will confirm that I've been caught on the wrong side of reality once too often to feel comfortable doing that. But I really hope that tomorrow the French electorate consign Marine Le Pen to the scrap heap, and send the Front National back into the pit it came from. The slogan 'Vote the liberal minded former economy minister and investment banker, not the fascist!' may not have the same ring to it, but I hope it is what the French people think as they go into the polls tomorrow.