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| Le Pen’s Far-Right Party Eyes Major Status in France, but Voters Are Still Deciding | Le Pen’s Far-Right Party Eyes Major Status in France, but Voters Are Still Deciding |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| BOHAIN-EN-VERMANDOIS, France — Armand Pollet, the representative of the far-right National Front in this struggling, largely rural town in the north, sat back in his leather easy chair recently and smiled with satisfaction, declaring that his party was now locked in place as France’s third mainstream party. | BOHAIN-EN-VERMANDOIS, France — Armand Pollet, the representative of the far-right National Front in this struggling, largely rural town in the north, sat back in his leather easy chair recently and smiled with satisfaction, declaring that his party was now locked in place as France’s third mainstream party. |
| “The new voters, I think we really have them now,” Mr. Pollet said. “They have stepped over the barrier to vote for the National Front, and once you have done that, which is a big step, you will stay.” | “The new voters, I think we really have them now,” Mr. Pollet said. “They have stepped over the barrier to vote for the National Front, and once you have done that, which is a big step, you will stay.” |
| Whether that is true is being hotly debated in France these days. In the past, French voters have turned to the National Front to express their unhappiness with politics as usual and the elites who dominate government. But many of these voters proved to have little allegiance to the National Front and quickly returned to the main parties of the center right and center left for the next election. | Whether that is true is being hotly debated in France these days. In the past, French voters have turned to the National Front to express their unhappiness with politics as usual and the elites who dominate government. But many of these voters proved to have little allegiance to the National Front and quickly returned to the main parties of the center right and center left for the next election. |
| Now, after the National Front’s success over the past few months in both municipal and European Parliament elections, the party and its leader, Marine Le Pen, face the challenge of proving that the results represent more than a protest vote at a time of continued economic frustration. Their goal is to make it acceptable for voters to embrace nationalist policies and think of Ms. Le Pen as a credible candidate when the 2017 presidential election comes around. | Now, after the National Front’s success over the past few months in both municipal and European Parliament elections, the party and its leader, Marine Le Pen, face the challenge of proving that the results represent more than a protest vote at a time of continued economic frustration. Their goal is to make it acceptable for voters to embrace nationalist policies and think of Ms. Le Pen as a credible candidate when the 2017 presidential election comes around. |
| If Ms. Le Pen is to succeed, she will have to build on her performance in places like this, a town of 6,000 that produced one of the highest vote counts for the far right in the European elections: about 47 percent, up from about 15 percent in the elections five years go. | |
| It is easy to see why people here might be looking for a third way. Even the baskets of flowers that hang from lampposts do not entirely distract from the many crumbling stucco walls and shutters in need of paint. Many industries have gone to Poland or Romania, where labor is cheaper. The unemployment rate is about 20 percent here, about twice the national average. The town’s electronic welcome sign flashes announcements for local festivals — and job fairs. | It is easy to see why people here might be looking for a third way. Even the baskets of flowers that hang from lampposts do not entirely distract from the many crumbling stucco walls and shutters in need of paint. Many industries have gone to Poland or Romania, where labor is cheaper. The unemployment rate is about 20 percent here, about twice the national average. The town’s electronic welcome sign flashes announcements for local festivals — and job fairs. |
| But even here, there is evidence that support for the National Front remains both limited and something that many voters are reluctant to admit to. That reluctance suggests that Ms. Le Pen and her party have yet to fully overcome the stigma of racist and anti-Semitic remarks attributed to the National Front’s founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, Ms. Le Pen’s father, and have some way to go before they can claim to be firmly in the mainstream. | But even here, there is evidence that support for the National Front remains both limited and something that many voters are reluctant to admit to. That reluctance suggests that Ms. Le Pen and her party have yet to fully overcome the stigma of racist and anti-Semitic remarks attributed to the National Front’s founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, Ms. Le Pen’s father, and have some way to go before they can claim to be firmly in the mainstream. |
| On Monday, Mr. Le Pen, 85, came under intense criticism for remarks he made in a video that appeared on the National Front’s website. In the video, later removed from the site, Mr. Le Pen responded to a question about a critic of the party by saying, “We’ll include him in the next batch.” Mr. Le Pen used the French word “fournée,” referring to a batch of bread to be baked, which his critics interpreted to be a reference to crematories at Nazi death camps. | |
| Mr. Le Pen said his comments had no anti-Semitic overtones. | Mr. Le Pen said his comments had no anti-Semitic overtones. |
| Even before Mr. Le Pen’s remarks, the party had had trouble building more public support in strongholds like Bohain-en-Vermandois. Asked to produce a single new convert to his party who would be willing to speak with a reporter, even without being named, Mr. Pollet said he could not. | |
| Nor, in fact, could his party come up with anyone to run in the municipal elections here in March. One man, identified by a friend as being a first-time National Front voter in the European elections, slammed the phone down when asked if he would talk about it. | Nor, in fact, could his party come up with anyone to run in the municipal elections here in March. One man, identified by a friend as being a first-time National Front voter in the European elections, slammed the phone down when asked if he would talk about it. |
| Many residents of Bohain-en-Vermandois, it seemed, were far more willing to say that they came close to voting for the National Front. Those voters cited the economy and the sense that the European Union was out of control, admitting too many nations (it has grown from 15 member countries in 2004 to 28 today) and insisting on open borders while almost never putting such decisions to a vote or considering the consequences, especially when it involves immigration from North Africa, the Middle East and Southern and Eastern Europe. | |
| Cassandra Aza, 22, said she lived here because the rent was cheap and it was near the home of her partner’s family. She said that she would much rather be in Paris but that neither she nor her partner had found work. She suspects that someone from North Africa got the job driving trucks that her partner applied for recently. So, Ms. Aza said, she would have voted for the National Front, if she had voted at all, and would probably vote for the party in the future. “It is isn’t even that I like Marine so much,” she said. “It’s just such a sense of having had enough.” | Cassandra Aza, 22, said she lived here because the rent was cheap and it was near the home of her partner’s family. She said that she would much rather be in Paris but that neither she nor her partner had found work. She suspects that someone from North Africa got the job driving trucks that her partner applied for recently. So, Ms. Aza said, she would have voted for the National Front, if she had voted at all, and would probably vote for the party in the future. “It is isn’t even that I like Marine so much,” she said. “It’s just such a sense of having had enough.” |
| “I just want to see the borders closed,” Ms. Aza added. | “I just want to see the borders closed,” Ms. Aza added. |
| Such sentiments can be found among both traditionally center-right and center-left voters. One man who said he usually voted Green said he had come close to voting for the National Front this year because his 80-year-old mother had to pay taxes on her pension for the first time, a result of a policy change by President François Hollande’s Socialist government. | |
| The mayor, Jean-Louis Bricout, a Socialist who was re-elected this year with 64 percent of the vote, said he believed that many residents voted for the National Front, as they have in the past, as a signal of their distress. | The mayor, Jean-Louis Bricout, a Socialist who was re-elected this year with 64 percent of the vote, said he believed that many residents voted for the National Front, as they have in the past, as a signal of their distress. |
| But some analysts say that National Front voters are growing more comfortable with showing their support openly, particularly in the South of France, where the party has done well more consistently. Nationally, the numbers have bounced around. In the last three presidential elections, the National Front won 16.9 percent of the vote in 2002, 10.4 percent in 2007 and 17.9 percent in 2012. | But some analysts say that National Front voters are growing more comfortable with showing their support openly, particularly in the South of France, where the party has done well more consistently. Nationally, the numbers have bounced around. In the last three presidential elections, the National Front won 16.9 percent of the vote in 2002, 10.4 percent in 2007 and 17.9 percent in 2012. |
| One resident of Bohain-en-Vermandois, François Tetart, 45, who supports former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s center-right Union for a Popular Movement, said that backing the National Front had become more appealing to voters from both the left and the right. | One resident of Bohain-en-Vermandois, François Tetart, 45, who supports former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s center-right Union for a Popular Movement, said that backing the National Front had become more appealing to voters from both the left and the right. |
| Many, he said, have begun to focus on the 800 immigrants in the town, who are for the most part employed. | Many, he said, have begun to focus on the 800 immigrants in the town, who are for the most part employed. |
| “There are a lot of people around here who can’t eat at the end of the month,” Mr. Tetart said. “Or they can’t dress their children. They have trouble paying the heating bills. We never used to have that. I can see the National Front getting through the first round in the next presidential elections.” | “There are a lot of people around here who can’t eat at the end of the month,” Mr. Tetart said. “Or they can’t dress their children. They have trouble paying the heating bills. We never used to have that. I can see the National Front getting through the first round in the next presidential elections.” |
| That happened once before, in 2002, when Mr. Le Pen came in second in the first round of the presidential election, ahead of Lionel Jospin, the Socialist candidate, giving him an opportunity to challenge the incumbent, Jacques Chirac, in the second round. | That happened once before, in 2002, when Mr. Le Pen came in second in the first round of the presidential election, ahead of Lionel Jospin, the Socialist candidate, giving him an opportunity to challenge the incumbent, Jacques Chirac, in the second round. |
| But supporters of the mainstream parties closed ranks to give Mr. Chirac, who took 82 percent of the vote, the largest margin of victory in a French presidential election. | But supporters of the mainstream parties closed ranks to give Mr. Chirac, who took 82 percent of the vote, the largest margin of victory in a French presidential election. |