Biting your teeth after the election defeat: The 53-year-old does not want to give up politically.
(Photo: AP)
With a somber expression, Marine Le Pen walked onto the stage at the Jagd-Pavillon d’Armenonville in the Bois de Boulogne near Paris on Sunday evening. The 53-year-old right-wing populist admitted her electoral defeat, but emphasized that she still achieved an excellent result.
In any case, she does not want to leave the political scene. “I will continue my commitment to France and the French,” said Le Pen. Her next goal: she wants to mobilize for the parliamentary elections on June 12 and 19, “the great electoral battle of the parliamentary elections”. That will be difficult for Emmanuel Macron. Her audience cheered.
With Le Pen, the right-wing populists have reached unprecedented heights this year: in 2017, Le Pen had won 33.9 percent of the vote in the runoff, and now it is 41.46 percent. So it made sense to rededicate defeat to victory. Because of her strategy of normalization, her efforts to create a more moderate image, she became electable for more French people.
An end to Le Pen’s career is not yet in sight. She will continue to campaign for “the France of the forgotten,” said Le Pen, and was angry that she had been pushed back to the extreme right in recent weeks. Now she is counting on the “third ballot”, as the parliamentary elections are already called everywhere in France.
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Like her left-wing competitor Jean-Luc Mélenchon, she then hopes for more power to get in the way of Macron. Mélenchon has already stated that he would like to become prime minister.
The French President has great powers, but he is dependent on a majority in the National Assembly. Which could make it difficult for Macron. Le Pen and Mélenchon, the third man in the elections, are pinning their hopes on that.
The fight for the post of prime minister has broken out
If the prime minister comes from another party, there is so-called “cohabitation” (literally: living together). Then the prime minister would have an important role. According to a poll by Opinionway after the run-off election, 46 percent of French people could imagine Le Pen as prime minister, compared to 44 percent for Mélenchon.
>> Read also: Macron 2.0 could become a more difficult partner for Germany
But Mélenchon, who is working on an agreement with the Greens and other leftists, would probably have a better chance because of the French majority system, which often excludes the right-wing extremists. Nor does he oppose linking up with the Socialists, who still have a strong presence in the regions – should they be willing to compromise on the programme.
The extreme right, including the controversial TV presenter Éric Zemmour, are therefore calling for “unity of the right”. Zemmour would also like to ally himself with Le Pen, but she doesn’t want to hear about it yet. She wants to continue her strategy of de-demonization, since the even more radical Zemmour would only stand in the way.
Even if she probably has little chance in the parliamentary elections, she can put obstacles in the way of the president. He must lead a deeply divided country and expect massive protests on the streets, which Le Pen could fuel with her hiring.
>> Also read here: How far-right Marine Le Pen is trying to break into the mainstream
Le Pen is still the main figure of her Rassemblement National (RN) party. She will continue to be supported by her right-hand man Jordan Bardella, who temporarily took over as party chairman in September for the duration of the election campaign. There is uncertainty in the ranks of the party as to whether it is strategically apt for Le Pen to lead the party himself again.
Before the election, Le Pen had said that this third presidential candidacy would be her last. But that could only have been strategy. At the election event in Paris, when asked about a possible fourth candidacy, a spokeswoman said that it was not that far. This does not rule out a new presidential candidacy in five years.
More: Emmanuel Macron – A man who prefers to be in the front row