The Hindu : Celebrating a defeat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 07, 2002

Opinion

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Celebrating a defeat

A FRINGE CONTENDER in three previous elections who turned the main challenger this time, Jean-Marie Le Pen of the far right National Front has been defeated in the country's Presidential election and France can breathe easy. The resurgence of the far right has been halted. With parliamentary elections due next month, more battles lie ahead. But, for now, it is celebration time in Paris and three cheers for a defeat. The electoral shock of the first round when Mr. Le Pen outlasted and ousted the Prime Minister and socialist candidate, Lionel Jospin, so galvanised the country that the victory of the Gaullist incumbent, Jacques Chirac, became a foregone conclusion. Even the margin of victory became predictable in the aftermath of the first round shock. In a sublime irony, political leaders who till the week earlier were his bitterest of foes lined up to support Mr. Chirac. It was as if there was but one call: voters of France unite, you have nothing to lose but your extremist fringe. It was a very real threat, of a return to the fascist era of the last century. Mr. Chirac in the end found himself loaded with an embarrassment of political riches, thanks to Mr. Le Pen. A disaster has been averted but France will take long to live down the national shame of allowing an obnoxious personage like Mr. Le Pen to get so close to the Presidency.

The French election, if anything, is proof that voter apathy, an affliction that many democracies appear to be suffering from, can have disastrous consequences for the polity. Of two of the major factors that produced the shock in the first round a fortnight ago, voter apathy resulting from a blurred ideological setting ensured that the mainstream party candidates were denied their due support in the balloting. Another key factor in the first round was that like-minded parties such as the Greens and communists among the plethora of candidates siphoned off votes from Mr. Jospin and paved the way for the emergence of Mr. Le Pen as the challenger. The second round voting, when the anti-Le Pen forces were mobilised fully to thwart him, was a more correct reflection of the support enjoyed by the National Front and its leader. The two-round election holds important lessons as the parties ready for the parliamentary battle. There will be keen interest around the world in the outcome of that election since, following political reforms, the French style cohabitation between President and Prime Minister is now co-terminus with the five-year life of parliament.

The immediate reality for the French is that a leader who had been branded a no-hoper and lacking in charisma will continue to lead the Republic for five more years and the "sick" man of Europe will continue to carry the label. France's voice of moderation in the councils of the Europe Union will remain muted even as the continent consolidates economic and political unity best symbolised by euro, the common currency. In the uneven Gaullist fight to defend the exception francaise (the French way of life), the odds will be weighted even more against the French. But as France and Europe assess the reasons for the rise and appeal of the extremist right — and left extremism as well, if one goes by the first round of the poll — the continent must brace itself for more after-shocks. Many European Union countries now record major mainstream electoral support for far right parties, the Dutch being the most probable new entrant. The reasons for the increasing acceptability of the far right parties must of course go beyond voter apathy and abstention. The Le Pen shock, much like the Jorg Haider bombshell did in Austria, can yet prove beneficial if History's lessons are remembered and retaught.

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