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Home , Christophe Castaner, El Khomri law, Lionel Jospin, Manuel Valls, Michel Rocard, Michel Sapin

he Rise of French Populism: An in a Most TFractured Landscape Recent Popular Social Movements Populism Benoît Hamon Jean-Luc Mélenchon François Fillon Conclusion

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© KFCRIS, 2017

ISSN: 1658-6972 Issue No. 31 - 20/06/2017 L.D. No: 1438/2868

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opulism is said to be the major new political trend. From PBrexit to the election of Donald Trump in the , old ideas and conceptions of the Left and Right are being deconstructed before our eyes faced with populist mantras. The French presidential election of 2017 was a story of a pro-European, pro-business, globalist centrist and underdog, Emmanuel Macron, defeating the favored right-wing candidate, decimating the Socialist left, and going on to win a super majority in the National Assembly, with a movement- turned-party he only recently created. However, what is not told, are the populist elements and narratives, coopted by all in the French presidential election, and how this aided Macron where it delegitimized most others. This paper analyses does just that, in exploring and analyzing populist narratives in all the major French presidential candidates’ campaigns, as well as the context and evolution of populist sentiment in contemporary in general to better understand how we have arrived at this point, and perhaps to better understand the direction Macron will take France and .

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“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The 2017 presidential election was supposed to would not seek a second term would end a semester bring about the embracing of a complete alternative of turmoil between the two heads of the executive: to (and rejection of) the five years of socialist President Hollande and his reformist prime minister, François Hollande’s presidency. The right-wing . With poll numbers much higher primaries had been an electoral success for the than those of the president, Prime Minister Valls main opposition party, Les Républicains (LR [the challenged Hollande for months to exhort him to Republicans]), with over 4 million voters in the right- withdraw, in order to allow the former to become the wing primaries choosing a former prime minister of socialist candidate in this election. (president in 2007–2012), François The left was massively divided in the 2017 election. Fillon, to be their champion. All the mainstream Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the spokesman of the Parti de media and most commentators assumed that the gauche (PG [Party of the Left]), was determined to right-wing primaries were, de facto, the round of the become the leader of an “alternative left” and regain presidential election, as the right was expected to be disappointed socialist voters. However, Socialist the clear favorite due to Hollande’s complete lack of Party loyalists (regardless of how disappointed they popularity. This prediction was also credible because were by the Hollande presidency), along with the the far-right Front National (FN [the National president’s own majority supporters in the National Front]) and its leader, Marine Le Pen, were rising in Assembly, would go on to contest Mélenchon on popularity: Everyone was certain she would win in a number of occasions. Those socialist hard-liners the first round and take her party higher than it had would eventually claim victory in the socialist ever been. It was assumed that voters would then primaries, when former education minister Benoît pragmatically choose to vote for the mainstream Hamon unexpectedly outperformed and beat Manuel conservative candidate, François Fillon. Valls, becoming the candidate at the Unlike the 2002 presidential , when Le end of January. However, while the socialist primaries Pen’s father (then head of the FN) shocked the were meant to bring all the different branches and country by landing the far right a spot in the first parties of the left together under a single umbrella round of elections, which led to a massive turnout so that they could advance in a unified manner in for (the mainstream conservative the presidential election, this would not come to candidate) stemming from rejection and fear of the pass. Two main players on the left would refuse to then-taboo idea of a far-right presidency, in 2017 coalesce under the envisioned socialist-led coalition: the media and commentators had come to believe • Jean-Luc Mélenchon would form a new far- that Marine Le Pen would be going into the runoff.1 left movement called Hollande’s Parti Socialiste (PS [Socialist Party]), had (Indomitable France).3 suffered heavy losses following five years of erratic • Former economy minister Emmanuel Macron, a government, and the French people were ready to former socialist, would go on to create his own, close the book on Hollande’s presidency. This would independent movement, En Marche! (EM [On the lead to his unprecedented decision not to run in the Move!], after leaving the Hollande government 2017 election.2 Hollande’s announcement that he in early to mid-2016 to explore his candidacy.

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His road to the presidency represents the largest class on the part of voters. Nearly every single political upset in France in decades and has political event that involved the established political defied all the basic assumptions of establishment coalitions, parties, or groups (familles politiques, or politics, while bringing a new generation of “political families,” to use French political parlance) voters into the political process and attracting can be understood as a near-complete rejection of over 250,000 supporters in the one year after its the establishment. The five main candidates running foundation in April 2016. in this election benefited from the voters’ craving The 2017 presidential election in France took place for change, with all of them employing populism to in a context of great disaffection with the political advance his or her political agenda.

Recent Popular Social Movements

The year saw the emergence of States and the Indignados movement in . The a variety movements contesting the authority phenomenon eventually spread to of the state on a wide range of issues. The most other cities, with protests against various liberal and famous of these movements was one that protested reformist of Hollande’s prime minister, the Law of August 8, 2016, Relating to Labor, Manuel Valls. Many left-wing politicians tried to Modernizing Social Dialogue, and Securing take advantage of the movement, such as Jean-Luc Professional Trajectories (Loi no. 2016-1088 du 8 Mélenchon, who referred to himself as its political août 2016 relative au travail, à la modernisation continuation. However, this movement disappeared du dialogue social et à la sécurisation des parcours before the presidential election season began. professionnels), introduced by then-president Other movements have emerged over the past five Hollande’s labor minister, years in opposition to the political establishment in and better known by supporters and opponents France. Various movements of entrepreneurs referred alike as the Loi El Khomri (). In to as “the pigeons” objected to the amount of taxes ’s central square, the Place de la République, levied against businesses in France during the first thousands of young people started gathering and two years of the Hollande presidency. Opposition to protesting throughout the night against the bill, in a the transfer of an airport from to a nearby movement that would be soon called Nuit Debout suburb, Notre-Dame-des-Landes, in order to ease or (“Rise Up at Night”).4 Every night protesters the traffic created significant turmoil, with protesters stayed awake, discussing and debating visions of occupying the planned construction site. No public an alternative society and proposals for a better official was willing to take responsibility to evacuate future in a movement that has been compared to the protesters for fear of a collateral accident that the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United could doom the project for good.

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Populism

Populism itself has never been theorized in modern controversial assertions by her famously anti-Semitic French history as much as it has been understood as and Holocaust-denying father, Jean-Marie Le Pen.6 existing on a continuum of nationalism. These two The rise in popularity of the FN soon became the concepts, populism and nationalism, are closely main political debate, and the mainstream parties (on linked in French history, and the Front National is both the left and the right) blamed each other for the the only party that claims them as values of its core FN’s rise in the polls and the public debate. identity. Founded in 1972, the FN is one of the oldest While a pro-European centrist, Emmanuel Macron, contemporary populist parties in the West.5 For would go on to defeat Le Pen and assume the decades, the ideas presented by Jean-Marie Le Pen French presidency, the 2017 election has effectively (the far-right founder of the FN) were considered to reshaped the political landscape for the populist be populist. Proposals included reducing the number Front National and its leader, Marine Le Pen. It of immigrants, restricting the spread and practice presented, and will continue to present, a clear of , leaving the European Union, choice: it places the FN in a position to be the clear and similar issues. Historically, all mainstream alternative in the coming years should Macron parties from the left as well as the right, as well as (and the historic left-wing, right-wing, and centrist the mainstream media, would do whatever it took politicians he has assembled in his government) fail. to prevent the growth or normalization of the Front However, this election has demonstrated that the National. For the past 10 years, however, the FN Front National was not the only type of party to has relentlessly appealed to middle- and working- grow and employ populism and populist rhetoric. class resentment toward the members of the political Each party and candidate in the 2017 presidential establishment, who did not seem to care about, or election used populist tools and arguments at length, even hear, their concerns and aspirations once they destroying a historic trend over the past 15 years that attained office. The Front National started to become had refrained from appealing to populist sentiments more attractive to French voters in 2011, when (starting with the defeat of the Front National’s Marine Le Pen took over leadership of the party founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in the first round of from her father, offering a new, fresh face, of the elections of 2002 against Chirac).

Benoît Hamon

Benoît Hamon was the underdog in the Socialist “social-liberal” agenda, which was pro-business, Party primaries, where he ran against prime minister advocated weakening workers’ protections, took a Manuel Valls, who was expected to win them. combative stance against French minorities, and, However, Hamon had worked quietly and efficiently many in the Socialist Party felt, countered the core for years, building and rallying around him an internal socialist values. Socialist deputies to the National socialist opposition to President Hollande’s reformist Assembly and other groups in the Socialist Party

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who had similar complaints against the reformist the wildly unpopular incumbent president, all the and liberal direction of the party under Hollande and while attempting to realistically propose a radically Valls were labeled by the media as “the slingers.” different and true left-wing agenda. While the slingers were known to be a strong force It could be said that traditionally in France the duty that could challenge François Hollande or indeed of socialist candidates in presidential elections has Manuel Valls, they were divided between Benoît been to unify the two wings of the party (the socialist Hamon, Hollande’s one-time minister of education, ideologues and the reformist-liberals) before the and former economy minister . election, in addition to rallying the rest of the French Both Hamon and Montebourg had stepped down from left to a grand left coalition under the banner of the Hollande government after bluntly criticizing the the Socialist Party. François Mitterrand did so for president and his prime minister on a wide range of three decades when he shut down ’s issues. Consequently, Benoît Hamon was able to win “Second Left” and his aspirations of socialist the socialist primaries, as his career as a cadre of the renewal.7 led a government in 1997 Socialist Party allowed him to build a strong network composed of both extreme-left communists and of support, especially in the Paris area. At 49 years center-left liberal socialists. François Hollande won of age, this relatively fresh face became the center in 2012 by offering a balance compromise between of the party’s return to core French socialist values his left-wing promises and the realism of the and ideology, in rejection of the centralist and liberal requirements of governing. His inability to deliver reforms of Hollande and Valls and their supporters in solid socialist policies aside from gay marriage the Socialist Party. would alienate many socialist and left-wing voters After the primaries, Hamon had a hard time reuniting in France, while the erraticism of his government’s the party, as countless party officials began to rally to policies would lead to critique and support for the the centralist and independent candidate Emmanuel right. Such was the situation of the Socialist Party Macron and his movement, En Marche!. Shockingly, and French left as inherited by Benoît Hamon: a Hamon’s primary challenger, former prime minister Herculean task attempting to unify what could not be Manuel Valls, would decline to support Hamon, a (and did not want to be) unified. His campaign was member of his own party, and eventually supported seen more as a way to take back the Socialist Party Macron in the first round. Competition for Hamon from reformist-liberals, in order to secure a more would not only come from former and current cadres ideologically unified and solid opposition to what of the Socialist Party who were more sympathetic was presumed to be an assured right-wing president. to the centralist and reformist-liberal views of As both Benoît Hamon and Jean-Luc Mélenchon Hollande, Macron, and Valls. It would also come appeared to share the same platform, the mainstream from the extreme-left periphery of his party and media would constantly ask Hamon why he did not left-wing voters. Hamon’s left-wing populist stance, simply rally his supporters behind Mélenchon, in too, would become embodied by the longtime order to assure a left-wing coalition in the first round politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who surpassed of the presidential elections. This was precisely the and outperformed Hamon in the polls after the moment (late March 2017) when Mélenchon’s rise first televised debate between the candidates in in the polls was highlighted as a political event that March 2017. Hamon was largely trapped due to the could reshape this election; when, suddenly and contraction of his being, officially, the candidate of unexpectedly, Mélenchon became seen as a possible

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final-round competitor to Marine Le Pen and the to have marked the end of the Socialist Party as far-right Front National in a potential Armageddon we know it, which could no longer maintain and between the French far right and the French far left. house left-wing ideologues with centrist-neoliberals Unfortunately, this late rise Mélenchon’s popularity in the same party. Hamon’s core left-wing populist would leave Hamon justifying why he was running stance would push many centrist and reformist- and not rallying behind Mélenchon, instead of being liberal socialist deputies in the National Assembly given the chance to defend his ideas during the into Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche! out of fear of last month of the campaign. This election is said losing reelection.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon

Ever since his defeat to Hollande in the 2012 voters formerly allied with the Socialist Party presidential primaries, Jean-Luc Mélenchon had (although these policies would alienate a historical always appeared to be the far-left alternative. His pro-nuclear position held by the communists) as main strategy throughout the Hollande presidency well as an anti-European stance that led him to was to build on the resentment of the left-wing announce a “Fréxit” on leaving the electorate toward François Hollande’s pivot to European Union as a proposal toward the end of his centrist, reformist, and liberal ideas. But he would campaign. It aimed to broaden his electorate, as he do so as an independent candidate, and he founded claims to be the champion of the working class and a new, broad political movement, La France the poorer parts of French society. Yet as the result of Insoumise (Indomitable France), putting an end to the first round of demonstrated, he was able his longtime alliance with the Front de gauche (the to actually increase his votes in the big cities as well, Front of the Left), which, significantly, included with a high turnout from civil servants, middle-class the Parti communiste français (PCF [French teachers, and employees. He even won the majority Communist Party]), which had supported him in of votes of last-minute voters.8 2012. Mélenchon understood that he needed to build This was indeed a big accomplishment for the a strategy, based on his iconic personality, that could 65-year-old longtime socialist, who, for the past bring change into the political process, and not based decades, had been overshadowed by his peers. He on established parties. He gained traction after the pushed his left-wing ideology in the Socialist Party first televised debate between candidates, as he was during countless internal debates. The breaking seen as a more seasoned politician as well as being point came in the 2005 referendum on the European a formidable debater. His numbers rose in the polls Treaty, where he was in the minority during the to quickly match those of a failing Fillon. In 2012, internal socialist vote, but came out as a winner in his poll numbers rose in the same way, but he started the actual vote. He then campaigned and rallied for from a lower point and his worries for an upset the Socialist Party to change its course and return to proved to be justified. advocate for a more left-wing agenda. His opinions Mélenchon’s platform included pro-environmentalist were ignored by the Socialist Party’s leaders for policies to attract the French and green the 2007 presidential election, and eventually, in

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2008, he left the Socialist Party after another party the same platform, and calls were made on both sides congress failed to advance his ideology. He decided for an alliance that could shake up the election and then that changing the Socialist Party from within mathematically make the left viable at winning the was impossible, and so he vowed to challenge presidency. This would not come to pass, however. its ideology from outside and become its main Mélenchon’s results, while impressive, were still competitor among the left-wing electorate.9 disappointing, as he would fail to get the votes from Throughout the 2017 campaign, Mélenchon’s among the poorest parts of the electorate and lost the populist style was furthered by his appearance at great majority of the worker’s vote to the far right. massive outdoor rallies—including the hallmark of His strategy for the second round was decried as he his campaign, his simultaneous multiple-city rallies refused to support the centrist-liberal Emmanuel via hologram—as well as frank, “tell ’em like it is” Macron and chose not to disclose his choice of media interviews attacking the political elites and an alternate. Indeed, many of his longtime critics establishment, which allowed for his success and a from the left claimed that a parallel could be drawn steady rise in the polls. between him and the far right’s Marine Le Pen on a For the remaining weeks before the first round, number of issues, especially on Europe and their soft Mélenchon’s rise in the polls was only stopped by the attitude toward autocratic regimes such as Vladimir presence of Benoît Hamon, who shared more or less Putin’s Russian and Bashar al-Assad’s Syria.

François Fillon

François Fillon’s victory in the primaries made the primary campaign, “Who would imagine the him the favorite for over two months before he was General de Gaulle [being] charged?” thus invoking charged embezzlement in a scandal that involved him the founder of the Fifth Republic and popular “savior paying his wife and children over 500,000 euros for of France,” in an attack aimed, not only at Nicolas fictitious work as parliamentary aides. This was really Sarkozy, but at Alain Juppé as well. During the right- the first upset of a surprising campaign on the right wing , the polls failed to catch the after the two presumed center-right favorites, former rise of the underdog Fillon for weeks because of the president Nicolas Sarkozy and former prime minister nature of the primary electorate. His solid victory Alain Juppé (who dominated the polls for over three in the first round of the primaries, with around 45 years) lost by a landslide to the strict, conservative percent of the vote, made him the clear favorite over former prime minister François Fillon. He made former prime minister Alain Juppé. For years he had his success by presenting himself as the champion been building a network of support in the National of honesty against a former president (Sarkozy) Assembly, as well as by publishing books that were whose name appeared in over 10 judicial scandals popular among right-wing readers. He was also what and a former prime minister who was tried for fake the right-wing electorate wanted in a candidate. His jobs in the longtime Gaullist right-wing party that strong stance on social issues and his Thatcherite preceded Les Républicains. To differentiate himself economics were exactly aligned with the beliefs of from his opponents, Fillon famously asked, during older, upper-class voters.

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Fillon’s decline in the polls came right before the point rally in Paris’s Place du Trocadéro, where he scandal involving his wife’s fictitious employment famously affirmed his new populist tone.10 as a parliamentary aide, during a time when his This was not the campaign Fillon had expected to proposals were under scrutiny, in January 2017. run. When he was Nicolas Sarkozy’s prime minister, His main economic proposals were hard cuts in he had always advocated a moderate approach spending, with a proposed reduction of 500,000 civil toward politics and criticized the ideological right- servant positions over five years, as well as proposals wing wing of his majority. When he lost the race for to defund some basic medical care provided by his party’s presidency in 2012, he only focused on his France’s universal health-care program. This led to presidential prospects, carefully preparing detailed concern in his party that such a program would not proposals designed to fuel a serious and practical get the backing of large parts of the electorate. When campaign. That is how he won the presidential Sarkozy’s former justice minister, Rachida Dati, primaries and how he had planned to conduct his leaked the information about his embezzlement of presidential campaign. He did not become a populist public funds, Fillon was hit hard, as this revealed by choice, but rather out of the need to survive. The a clear contradiction between the sacrifices he interesting dynamic is that his party’s polled share of demanded of the French people and his personal votes remained significant and steady until the final attitude toward the rule of law. Following these days of the campaign. revelations came an erratic series of missteps, and Fillon’s party, Les Républicains, the heir of the a large part of the elite cadre of Les Républicains traditional French mainstream right and a party that had (the mainstream right-wing party) stopped their aimed to be a right-wing coalition including both pro- campaign on the ground and distanced themselves European centrists and moderate nationalists, has now from Fillon. Fillon would go on to only campaign shrunken to a small base of followers. While Fillon’s with a handful of supporters, embracing populist supporters were quick to blame his defeat on the minor rhetoric against the media and judges to keep his nationalist candidate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (who campaign afloat. Many cadres of his party began would go on to support the far-right major candidate, to discuss the potential replacement of Fillon by Marine Le Pen of the Front National), who captured another candidate, but he was determined to keep almost 5 percent of the votes, but a closer look to the campaigning until the last day. His poll numbers results shows that the biggest loss of Fillon supporters continued to decline until they reached his solid came from the right-leaning centrist segments of the core of support of around 19–20 percent of the right-wing electorate, who would vote for Emmanuel electorate, who would support him regardless of the Macron in the first round of the presidential elections accusations. He saved his candidature in a turning- over their own candidate, Fillon.

Marine Le Pen

After Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, for certain that her candidacy was supported by a global the first time, the world has begun to take Marine tsunami of populists. In private, she began to talk Le Pen’s candidacy seriously.11 To many, it seemed about the effect of her election on stock prices and

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the composition of her future government. The far- announced that even if indicted, she would continue right Front National candidate came into the 2017 her candidacy for the presidency. “A judge cannot campaign in a strong position to be the first party in decide who is fit or not to be a candidate; [that’s] the first round of elections. Since she took over the the end of democracy,” she asserted, describing her party from her father in 2011, her party’s influence situation in traditional populist rhetoric. had increased: She had received nearly 18 percent Le Pen’s main challenge after the disclosure of of the votes cast in the 2012 presidential elections, this affair was to become credible in the eyes of and the party won a few town halls in 2014, almost the public. For the past few years, she has made 60 elected local seats and more than 350 regional public her political divorce from her father by seats in 2015, 2 deputies in the National Assembly, expelling him from the party for comments denying and 2 senators in the of the Republic. For the Holocaust. She also made a number of foreign her campaign, Marine Le Pen relied on a strategic trips, including one to in March 2017 to meet council of 35 people, comprised solely of all the President Putin at the Kremlin. This connection was elected officials from her party, the FN, and far-right heavily criticized by her main opponent, the centrist media personalities. This included her niece, Marion Emmanuel Macron, and the mainstream media, as Maréchal–Le Pen, one of the two FN deputies in her party had secured a loan from a Russian bank the National Assembly who represents the extremist and Russia was accused of helping Le Pen, whose Catholic and social conservative wing of the far worldview about French identity is close to that right, as well as one of her chief counsellors, of the Kremlin. Moreover, she made clear that she Florian Philippot, who represents the nationalist and wanted to restore relationships with Russia and extremist libertarian wing of the far right. prevent further economic sanctions from being Le Pen’s campaign tested her populist roots when implemented. With this first meeting with the she was charged in an embezzlement scandal. This Russian president, she managed to achieve the public was not unlike Fillon’s campaign, which was largely image and reputation she needed by meeting a head eclipsed by the fictitious employment of Penelope of a state that is a great power and showing herself Fillon. The European Anti-Fraud Office would to be associated with his stature and ideology on the eventually order Marine Le Pen to repay 339,000 international stage. Before the Russian president, she euros to the , on the grounds had only met president Idriss Deby of the Republic that she had paid salaries to fictitious workers. of Chad and General Michel Aoun, the president of Specifically, the European arbitration found that the Lebanese Republic. Thierry Légier, Marine Le Pen’s bodyguard, and A major proposal of Le Pen’s campaign regarded Catherine Griset, his former sister-in-law, were both her intention to leave the European Union and the recorded officially as her parliamentary assistants, Eurozone. She presented it at a large conference despite the fact that actually their work for her was in Lyon in early February. In addition to leaving unrelated to her job as a member of the European the European Union, her project included “144 Parliament. On December 15, 2016, the Paris Commitments,” including the establishment of Prosecutor’s Office launched a judicial investigation a waiting period for access to health care and for breach of trust and concealment of crimes, gang- education for foreigners; the dissolution of the organized counterfeit scams and the use of counterfeit administration division of “regions” in France to funds, and undeclared work. Marine Le Pen fight against the administrative paperwork of the

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national bureaucracy; the restoration of controls at in Southwest France, had recently announced his the borders; the drastic limitation of immigration; willingness to cooperate with Emmanuel Macron. the establishment of “economic patriotism” and On April 28 she appealed, via a video posted online, protectionist policies; and the restoration of national to anti-European far-left supporters of Jean-Luc currency for French citizens in France on a daily basis, Mélenchon. The day after, she sealed an alliance possibly accompanied by a “common currency” for with minor nationalist candidate Nicolas Dupont- states and large companies—all hallmark policy Aignan, promising him the post of prime minister proposals of the far right. if she was elected. Marine Le Pen would go on to After coming in first in the first round of presidential give a speech to supporters where she portrayed her elections by defeating the pro-European centrist opponent as a representative of big finance and an Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen went on the “adversary of the people.” offensive against Macron. After a tour of a public On May 3, the two candidates were face-to-face for a market in the far-right stronghold of deindustrialized televised debate, in what was deemed a militant, and Northeast France, she went on primetime television, often confused, duel. Many thought Le Pen appeared where she announced, among other things, that unprepared and too aggressive and suggested she had she had stepped down as the president of the Front lost in one night all the presidential credentials she National, a gesture intended to raise her above the fray had struggled to build for many months. Finally, on and help her compete with the strongly antipartisan, May 4, she held her last rally in a very small village independent candidate. On April 25, she spent three in the north of France as a symbol of her strong hours at the food market of the township of Rungis support from rural France. She would go on to be where, among cheeses, fruits and vegetables, and the beaten by Emmanuel Macron in the second round carcasses of cattle, she again insisted on combating of the presidential election, garnering less than 34 unchecked and unregulated free trade, claiming it percent of the votes and losing supporters to Macron hurt local and artisanal French workers. Later that but winning a historically high score of votes for night, she was again on primetime television. The the far right, which raised her hopes and those of next day, while Emmanuel Macron met a delegation her supporters that she could become a major player from the national union of municipal employees, she in the opposition. From her headquarters in a cabin met workers at a Whirlpool factory site at Amiens. by the lake, in the Bois de Vincennes outside Paris, On April 27, she held a meeting in Nice, the city she accepted defeat and welcomed a “historic and whose popular anti-Muslim , solid result” in her party’s favor, while promising to the leader of the mainstream implement a “profound transformation” of her party.

Emmanuel Macron

In just a few months, a virtually unknown candidate opponents and supporters alike suspected he would created a movement, smashed the presidential cede to a Hollande candidacy for a second term. But election rules, and, at 39 years of age, became the first, one must look at the story of how Macron and youngest president in French history. His campaign his movement came about.12 started with a lucky break, and for a long time, his On May 18, 2016, the pro-Macron Mayor of Lyon

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stated on primetime television that if President counters Emmanuel Macron. And everything has Hollande’s polling numbers stagnated around 14 actually been possible for this candidate, who was or 15% in the December polls before the Socialist able to take a risk and identify the seeds of his Primaries, then Macron should run to be the victory before others: disappointment born from the candidate of the left. Others, however, did not think ten years of François Holland and Nicolas Sarkozy, Macron would wait to see the Head of State’s polls, which created and offered a space to go beyond the nor if he would run. is one of them. left-right divide Macron’s successor as minister of the economy, in On September 1, Emmanuel Macron and François summer 2015 he had previously warned his friend, Fillon visit the fair of Châlons in Champagne. Some the president: “With Macron, you think you’re going 70 journalists [follow because there are now two to add something to your rake, but you’re going to dedicated right-wing] candidate[s] in the primaries. get the rake in the nose.” October[:], it’s the season of meetings for Macron The idea of creating a movement had emerged across France. During those meetings, Macron plays earlier, one afternoon at the end of October 2015, the populist [tune]. In Strasbourg, he talks about in the office of Emmanuel Macron, at the Ministry ethics and morals among politicians. “We urged him of Economy. Around him, there are four men: two to focus on spending power. He was just hanging in ministerial advisers from his office, Ishmael Emelien the polls, although he later proved to be right to do and , and two external recruits, so, given the way in which the subject would later Adrien Taquet and . Macron pop up and destroy the Fillon campaign,” said a said: “I want to do something.” The five men sign a member of Macon’s campaign team. Pact of Silence, and respect it. After the defeat of moderate center-right Alain In early April 2016, François Hollande is forewarned Juppé in the right-wing primary by the Thatcherite, that the launch of Macron’s movement will take strict conservative Francois Fillon on November 27, place soon. However, Hollande does not believe 2016, a friend points out to Macron: “If Juppé had that the novice minister can be a candidate against won the primary, you would be dead.” Macron does him. On July 12, 2016, in Paris, Emmanuel Macron not agree, responding: “I would have beat Juppé.” obliterates Hollande’s legacy [by] announcing To those who prioritize the dangerousness of his his movement. , a socialist opponents, and who advised him to wait for 2022, parliamentarian close to Macron, is convinced that Macron responded: “You’re describing the world of the President will dismiss Macron, sending him yesterday; that system is dead, the space is now.” a text message: “We might as well help Brigitte Emmanuel Macron achieved a historic and major [Macron’s wife] pack.” Hollande does nothing. “He political feat. A self-proclaimed liberal, he did not won’t fire Macron, he wants him to resign,” says try to cover his reformist-liberal agenda with the one close to the president. Not so easy. On Monday, cloak of , as did Hollande, or the cloak of August 29, Macron meets the president. He doesn’t conservatism, as did Sarkozy. In a country where talk of his resignation. The next day, he sends him politics is rarely disruptive, he repeated to his aides a text: “I’ll come to you to resign.” On August 30, and campaign staff at the beginning of the adventure: 2016, the Minister announced to the President his “It must be disruptive.” And “disruptive” he was, in resignation from the Government. “You can’t win,” the sense that, in the new economy he is an innovator said François Hollande. “Anything is possible,” intent on breaking with the old models of doing things.

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Of course, Macron was lucky, but more than luck too. In fact, his election was supported both by the was involved. Two theories sum up the nerve and very austere and orthodox German finance minister determination it took to get started. Some see in Wolfgang Schäuble, as well as by the far-left Greek Macron a rival of the failed “Second Left” movement minister , and eventually by the of liberal reformers, who failed to challenge the outgoing American president Barack Obama. While socialist François Mitterand in 1981. Others see some support may have largely been due to a desire in the Macron candidate another analogy. “There to block the extreme right at any cost, it can be said is something in common,” notes , that now the fate of France is an interest of many “between Emmanuel Macron and Nicolas Sarkozy beyond France’s borders. The qualities required to win in 2007: the one and the other have undertaken a form power are not sufficient. Macron’s ability to convince of breakdown while they belonged to the outgoing his interlocutors is also a sign of a leader who has majority.” And yet, Emmanuel Macron, all in all, spent his career building a network of allies. A key suffered less from the reputation of continuity, unlike element in his success has been the talent described Hollande’s prime minister Manuel Valls. This reflects by a former member of the Attali Commission on an ability to deflect shots, something that is always economic growth: “He looked at you in the eye as if useful for a political leader. “What’s important is not his life had passed for the sole purpose of allowing Caesar and Brutus, the most important, is France,” this conversation with you.” This is an important said , secretary-general of Macron’s quality indeed, because in a fractured France, humility movement, En Marche!. Macron is applauded abroad, is as necessary as the audacity and interpersonal skills.

Conclusion

Turning to the legislative elections, Emmanuel a lack of consistency,” he has stated. Yet with power, Macron has refused any negotiations with the resolve can lead to rigidity. As a conclusion comes Socialists or the Républicains. Instead, he has decided a question Emmanuel Macron cannot yet answer. on a clean “break . . . with the system.” This is again How will this man who spent his whole life in the taking a big risk, but it is in line with his promise of company of people fascinated by his life story face renewal. For the management of the country, he has no the first signs of unpopularity? An avid consumer of intention to amend its program regardless, of the share literature, perhaps he will consider this observation of the vote by which the supporters of every party made by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in 1938: “Man brought him to power. “Our democracy is dying from finds himself when he is faced with an obstacle.”

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Notes (1) Louis Hausalter, “Présidentielle: Marine Le Pen veut briser son ‘plafond de verre’ à coups d›abstention,” , April 4, 2017. (2) Nicolas Chapuis, “François Hollande: ‘J’ai décidé de ne pas être candidat à l’élection présidentielle,’” , December 1, 2016. (3) Julien Absalon, “Jean-Luc Mélenchon annonce sa candidature à l’élection présidentielle de 2017,” RadioTélé Luxembourg, February 1, 2016. (4) “Face à la contestation sociale qui persiste, le gouvernement s’impatiente,” Le Monde (with Agence France-Presse), June 9, 2016. (5) Valérie Igounet, Le Front national de 1972 à nos jours: Le parti, les hommes, les idées (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 2014). (6) Alexandre Dézé, Le Front national: À la conquête du pouvoir? (Paris: Armand Colin, 2012). (7) Hubert Védrine, Les Mondes de François Mitterrand, à l›Élysée, 1981–1995 (Paris: , 1996). (8) Roger Matelli, “Vote Mélenchon: Le populisme ou la gauche?, Regards, May 1, 2017. (9) “Jean-Luc Mélenchon quitte le PS,” Le Monde, November 7, 2008. (10) Paul Chaulet, “Au Trocadéro, François Fillon place la droite au pied du mur,” L’Express, March 5, 2017. (11) “Le Pen rides Trump, Brexit wave in election campaign,” Al Jazeera, May 2, 2017. (12) Laure Equy, “Macron, une victoire sous pression,” Libération, May 7, 2017.

Ramadan - Shawwal 1438 - June - July 2017 Ramadan - Shawwal 1438 - June - July 2017 King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS)

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