France's election: Four reasons why the French voted for the right-wing party NR
National Rally (NR) leader Marine Le Pen.
The right-wing party National Rally (NR) is ahead with 33 percent of the votes in the first round of parliamentary elections held in France on Sunday.
France's leftist New Popular Front (NPF) came in second with 28 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, the country's current president Emmanuel Macron's party is in third place with around 21 percent of the vote.
Now, so that the control of the parliament does not go into the hands of the right, therefore, the moderate and left-wing parties of France are called to unite. Macron.
But what is the reason for the French party led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardela to win NR in the first round of the election?
Internal factors and economic conditions
Among the issues voters consider before voting are the cost-of-living crisis, which is affecting their purchasing power.
The French were also worried about rising electricity prices, uncertainty about health care and rising crime, which they described as "insecurity".
Overall though, France's economy is doing well. But people living away from major cities told the BBC they felt neglected, because all the funding and attention was focused only on the cities.
Unemployment rates are very high in some parts of France. It is believed to be as high as 25 percent.
Housing has become prohibitively expensive for many in the country. Many are upset that schools in some areas have closed and local health care centers have beeProfessor Thomas Piketty told the BBC that it is the marginalized who are turning to the right wing.
The author of the best-selling 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century' book Mr. Piketty noted, “Industry in small towns suffered and the public had to go through hardships to get services; Train lines are closed, hospitals are closed. It is difficult to educate your children if you are away from big cities.”n closed due to shrinking allocations.
French President Emmanuel Macron
Aurelie, a 37-year-old cleaner, is a mother of two who lives in Amiens, northern France. He said he agreed with NR's policy, mainly because it was 'safety'.
“Every day I wake up at 4:30 in the morning and go to work. Once upon a time I could cycle or walk the streets of Amiens. But now I can't. Now I have to use the car. Because there are always youths roaming around these streets and I am afraid of this matter.”
Patrick of Pontault-Combault, a town east of Paris, voted for NR. He told the BBC: “People want change now, so they are keen to vote. When they feel unsafe on the streets, they are not happy.”
Also, voters are worried about pensions. Because last year Mr. Macron passed the law raising the pension age from 62 to 64 years. It was one of the unpopular reforms of the Macron government.
But Mr. Macron said the reform was essential to prevent the collapse of the pension system.
Rising electricity prices and gas needed to heat homes are also concerns for voters.
NR leader Jordan Bardella said they would focus on cutting VAT on fuel and 100 essential products.
Not only that, they will also reform the pension system within a few months.
Dissatisfaction with the existing system
Voters often say that the existing political system is not working. They feel that NR did not get a chance to go to the government and work. They also think it is good to have a change in the government system like resting.
"I am satisfied, because we need change," 64-year-old Jean-Claude Gallet, an NR supporter, told Reuters news agency.
Another NR supporter, 80-year-old Marguerite, said, “They (National Rally) have come up because people are fed up. So people are now saying 'we don't care. Let's vote. Let's see what happens."
"But what I fear is that other political parties will create obstacles here. We voted. This is the result. We have to accept it and see what happens."
But Yamina Addou, from the city of Venice, said she was shocked by NR's success.
He said that voters had been swayed to support the right-wing and that their decision could lead to a serious and dangerous division of French society.
“Of course it shocked me. I think this is very sad. I don't think people understand what's going on. They only consider purchasing power and other short-term and visible factors.”
"But there are many ideas and strategies behind it that will lead us to a different kind of war. Compared to the First and Second World Wars, this war will be much more subtle. People don't understand that we are going to have a civil war; I think so. It will hurt people like us.”
Many say that President Macron is responsible for France's current political situation and ongoing crisis.
"He created a consensual movement to bring people of different political ideologies together," Sophie Peder, the Economist's Paris bureau chief, told the BBC. It also served to stop the ongoing bickering between the Parliament and the two parties.”
"But the result is that only the left and moderates have joined Macron's party. Just didn't join – the hardliners”
Migrants and fear
Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally for many years, has been working to mainstream her party and make it more acceptable to voters.
The party was initially called the National Front, founded by his father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. He worked to erase the anti-Semitic and extremist stances of his father and the rest of the party's founding members.
He even changed the name of the party. At present that is the National Rally.
However, it still remains an anti-immigration party. The party's current leader, Jordan Bardella, has said he wants to ban French dual nationals from strategically sensitive positions. He called them "Half-Nationals".
He also wants to limit social benefits for immigrants. He also wants to stop the automatic right of French citizenship for the children of foreign citizens born in France.
But the plan to ban headscarves in public is not among the priorities for now. The party exploited fears that immigrants, especially Muslims, would not integrate into French society.
For example, one candidate, Ivanka Dimitrova, told the BBC that the party would take action against immigrants who wanted to put religious law above French law.
French public opinion has hardened against immigration over the past decade, one analyst said.
But there is no evidence that such is the mainstream belief about immigrants. And, the party also did not clarify what other "measures" would be included beyond the current law.
"French public opinion against immigration has hardened over the past decade," said Leila Aboud, the Financial Times' Paris bureau chief. You can trace the refugee crisis since the Syrian war in 2015. Politicians have also changed in response to this changing environment.
In the context of the European Union, NR has promised to end the supremacy of European law, which is the cornerstone of the EU project.
But NR has relaxed its anti-NATO and anti-EU policies. And, NR's close ties to Russia are excluded.
Leaving the EU is no longer on their agenda from 2022.
The right-wing's use of social media
NR leader Jordan Bardella is very active on social media, especially on TikTok.
NR has successfully run their campaign based on very simple slogans and concepts. NR exploits the public's fear of losing their French identity and the ongoing crisis of rising living costs.
They have used social media very effectively to make themselves credible to voters.
“In France we call Jordan Bardela a tick politician. Because he is a politician who is very comfortable using social media," Université de Franche-Comté's Vincent Lebrue told the BBC's Newsnight programme.
“It's something that has contributed a lot to his profile. You see a lot of what he's proposing, even if you don't know exactly what he's proposing."
"A lot of people are not racist," says Charles Culioli, a far-left NPF candidate standing against the NR. "They are just fed up with the system, they are fed up with Macron's policies, with all of the things that have been promised to them."
"Many people are not racist," said Charles Cullioli, a left-wing party NPF candidate against NR. "They're just fed up with the system, they're fed up with Macron's policies, with all the things he promised."
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