Floundering President Macron Tries to Push Fear of Populist Le Pen Victory to Maintain Grip on Power

French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) presidential candidate Marine Le Pen lo
CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty Images)
Kurt Zindulka

French President Emmanuel Macron has attempted to issue an ultimatum to the public, warning that either they rally around his government or they will face the prospect of populist Marine Le Pen taking the reigns of power.

The floundering French president has gone back to his old political playbook, ginning up fear of the so-called ‘far-right’ of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN), in order to galvanise support for his globalist government, which currently only enjoys 26 per cent public support as weeks of protests, union strikes, and full-on riots have eroded trust in his leadership.

In an address to the nation last week, Macron asked the French people to give him 100 days to turn around the ship following the controversy surrounding his government pushing through contentious reforms to the state pension system, pledging to work with unions to negotiate public sector pay hikes and to increase efforts to deter illegal immigration. However, the speech seemed to only further inflame tensions and it appears that the protesters have no intention of easing up pressure before the Bastille Day target set out by Macron.

With his pitch to the nation so far failing to ease tensions, the neo-liberal globalist president looks set to turn his focus and demonise his populist rivals, namely his two-time opponent in the presidential race Marine Le Pen, who would currently beat Macron in a head to head matchup if an election were held today.

“Marine Le Pen will come to power if we do not know how to respond to the country’s challenges,” Macron told Le Parisien newspaper, going on to claim that she will play the “game” of the “populist and demagogue”.

The embattled president went on to refer to Le Pen’s party as the “National Front”, the former name of the party when it was under the control of her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen a controversial figure in French politics who was expelled from the party in 2015 by his daughter. Nonetheless, the use of the former name of the party by Macron was a clear attempt to remind the public that he and his neo-liberal coalition is the only thing preventing the far-right boogeyman from taking power.

Macron successfully plaid that card in the previous two presidential elections, besting Le Pen in both contests after successfully convincing leftist and centrist voters to back him to prevent the right-wing populist from succeeding.

However, in last year’s election, Le Pen surged to 41.5 per cent of the vote, making significant gains among millennials and working-class voters disenfranchised by Macron’s globalist agenda. Her party would go on to achieve a surprising result in the parliamentary elections just two months later, securing a historic 89 RN candidates elected to the National Assembly.

Although Macron is currently prohibited by the French constitution from running for a third term, if a theoretical head-to-head presidential election were held today Le Pen would comfortably sail to victory, with a poll earlier this month giving her a ten-point lead over the incumbent in a 55 to 45 per cent split.

When expanded to the open field of first-round voting, Le Pen would still come out on top with 31 per cent of the vote, compared to Macron at 23 per cent, and far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon at 18.5  per cent.

This perhaps explains the realpolitik strategy from Macron to begin attacking Le Pen. Despite the fact that the far-left has been the principal driver of the riots and destructive demonstrations, as is typical, they remain divided, with support being fractured between support for Mélenchon and the rising French Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel. 

While Le Pen may represent the most serious political challenger to Macron’s rule, the street protests may in fact be the greatest threat to his reign, with trade unions vowing to bring 100 days of chaos in response to the president’s call for a 100-day respite to turn around the country.

On Monday, three members of Macron’s government had their schedules disrupted by protests, including Education Minister Pap Ndiaye in Lyon, Health Minister François Braun in Poitiers, and Justice Minister Éric Dupond Moretti in Sarthe, according to Le Figaro newspaper.

In Lyon, police were filmed barricading themselves in a government building after being descended upon by raucous protesters.

“We will not let them go until the reform is withdrawn. Members of the government will not be allowed to come to the cities until the text is withdrawn,” said 47-year-old school teacher Frédéric Volle in Lyon.

Mr Macron has himself been dogged by protesters during attempts last week to prove Le Pen wrong that he has “bunkerized” himself in the Élysée Palace.

Yet, the fact that police were forced to confiscate pots and pans using dubious legal pretexts to protect the embattled president has only emboldened the growing movement against his leadership.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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