How the far-right has shifted France’s political center of gravity
As next year’s presidential elections in France approach, the two front-runners are trying on each other’s clothes.
Marine Le Pen, traditionally a candidate of the extreme right, is seeking more moderate voters by steering her party, the National Rally, toward the middle ground of French politics. More surprisingly, perhaps, President Emmanuel Macron is veering sharply rightward, shocking many of his supporters and raising questions about the boundaries of acceptable political discourse.
“We are seeing [National Rally] ideas have become normalized and a structural part of mainstream debate,” says Gilles Ivaldi, who teaches at Sciences Po and the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris. “That is a reality.”
Two incidents in recent
Borrowing from the far-rightThe “majority of French people share our ideas”You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.
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