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Post by pieter on May 26, 2019 14:58:11 GMT -7
Sunday evening 26 May 2019. 23:40 hours (British time, Source: BBC)
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Post by pieter on May 26, 2019 15:04:46 GMT -7
 French far-right shows renewed strength in blow for MacronDate created : 26/05/2019 - 23:38 Bertrand Guay, AFP | Marine Le Pen, after the National Rally's victory in the European elections, , Sunday 26 May 2019,Text by: Charlotte WILKINSFrench far-right leader Marine Le Pen came out on top in France’s European Elections with 23.2 percent of the vote, in a blow for French President Emmanuel Macron, who had personally waded into the campaign.
“Vote against Macron,” the far-right National Rally’s (NR) tracts said. The results of Sunday’s vote suggest a quarter of French voters listened.
Marine Le Pen’s NR won 23.3% of the vote, Macron’s centrist La République en Marche (the Republic on the Move) came in second place with 22.1%, and there was a surprise surge for the Green Party, Europe Écologie Les Verts, who scored 13.1%.
The centre-right Les Républicains won 8.4% -- their worst ever showing in an election -- and the French Socialists languished in fifth place at 6.6 %.
The NR’s first-place showing is not just a triumph for the Eurosceptic far-right but shows their party leader had bounced back from the second round of the 2017 presidential election, where she lost to her arch-rival Macron.
Shortly after exit polls were announced, a beaming Le Pen described the result as a “victory for the people" and called on Macron to dissolve the French parliament.
French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe called the results “disappointing” but said it wouldn’t affect the government’s reform drive.
“There is of course some disappointment,” Philippe said. “But the score is absolutely honourable compared to how incumbents did in previous European elections. There was no sanction.”
Analysts were quick to point out that the French far-right had failed to improve on its results in the 2014 European election, where it also topped the vote, partly as a result of low turnout.
FRANCE 24’s Dave Keating, reporting from Brussels, said it “could have been worse” for Macron.
Others said that Macron’s second-place showing was more of a “symbolic set-back”.
Sophie Pedder, Paris bureau chief for the Economist, tweeted on Sunday evening that: “In some ways it’s remarkable that Macron is even on Le Pen’s heels. In 2014 the sitting president François Hollande scored just 14% and came 3rd. So 2nd place ought to be respectable for a mid-term vote.”
She added that “Coming 2nd won’t also affect Macron’s strong domestic parliamentary majority, nor in theory his ability to govern. But he upped the stakes and made the vote personal, and so 2nd place will be a symbolic set-back.”Showdown between Le Pen and the presidentSunday’s vote was set up as a showdown between Le Pen and the French president. Jordan Bardella, from the northern Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis, chosen by Le Pen to top her NR list, had framed the election as a “referendum on Macron”.
Bardella, 23, now becomes the youngest MEP to take a seat in Brussels. He called the results of Sunday’s vote a “lesson in humility’ for Macron, and “a rejection of him and his policies”.
In late 2018, polls showed the National Rally were capitalising on months of raucous Yellow Vest protests, which began as a movement against high fuel prices and spread to wider discontent against the French president’s policies.
"The Yellow Vest crisis and the Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen duel helped to set up Jordan Bardella's list as the main receptacle for anger and anti-Macron voting," Jérôme Fourquet, director of the Ifop polling Institute, told AFP.
Sunday’s vote showed the president’s “Great National Debate”, set up in the wake of the Yellow Vest protests, has failed to quell voter discontent. Macron ran on a centrist ticket for the presidency but has since alienated voters on the left with policies -- such as tax breaks for the rich and a tough line on immigration -- that veer to the right.
Meanwhile Le Pen, seeing Britain engulfed in the chaos of Brexit, shifted her campaign away from calls for a Frexit. Her party’s election manifesto made no reference to leaving the EU or the Euro. Instead it aims to reform the EU from within.'Populists versus progressives'The pro-European president, meanwhile, framed the vote as “populists versus progressives”. In an impassioned open letter on 4 March he called for a “European renaissance” and described the elections as the most important since the bloc’s first parliamentary ballot in 1979.
But his choice of former European Affairs Minister, Nathalie Loiseau -- his “secret weapon” in Brexit talks -- whose conservative, Catholic background was meant to attract the centre-right -- didn't do him many favours.
Her lacklustre campaign failed to ignite, and was characterised by a string of gaffes. When French investigative website Mediapart revealed she had once campaigned on a far-right ticket as a student, she dismissed it as a “stupid mistake”.
Loiseau acknowledged disappointment in not coming out on top but urged all pro-European forces "to unite to defend the interests of the Europeans" and not let the European Union fall into the hands of "those who want to unbuild it".
"For us, the fight is not over,” Loiseau said. “We will conduct it in the European Parliament, to prevent nationalists from weakening France and blocking progress the French people expect."
“If Macron’s party were to finish second to Le Pen’s now, it would reverse the dynamic of the 2017 presidential election and deal a severe blow to Macron’s ambition to lead a progressive revival of pro-European liberals against national populists in France and across the EU,” Jim Shields, a professor of French politics at Warwick University, told FRANCE 24.(With AFP and REUTERS) |
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Post by pieter on May 26, 2019 16:03:34 GMT -7
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Post by karl on May 26, 2019 17:54:01 GMT -7
Pieter
It is good of you to keep us afloat and currant of the political climate and results of currant elections. It appears Mr. Macron is having some difficulties from the currant yellow vest situation{s}. In opposite it appears that Ms. Marine Le Pen representing the far right is providing what the voters wish to hear.
Karl
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Post by Jaga on May 26, 2019 22:23:07 GMT -7
Pieter and Karl,
I am watching EU elections just like you. Pieter - thanks for the pie. As you predicted - people vote more extreme - either right or green and not that much into center. That means that it would be hard to communicate.
I am not completely surprised that Marine LePen won - there is a long tradition of voting against ruling parties, besides too many immigrants from Africa and Middle East scare Europeans.
In Poland PIS (Law and Justice) party won. Poland is almost equally divided into pro-right East and pro-left West.
The only good trend I noticed - much more women elected than ever before, also in Poland.
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Post by Jaga on May 26, 2019 22:33:32 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on May 27, 2019 2:44:59 GMT -7
Dutch Labour election ad. The images speak for themselves
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Post by pieter on May 27, 2019 6:44:00 GMT -7
Timmermans in Italy, aside from his native languages Limburgish and Dutch, Timmermans is fluent in English, French, German, Italian and Russian. This image shows the winners in the Netherlands, cheering Labour members ( PvdA), people of the rightwing Populist Forum for Democracy and the Greenleft party. The Dutch Greens (GroenLinks) and Labour (PvdA) were the last two winners in the European elections last Thursday in the North-Eastern Dutch Low Saxon city Groningen. GroenLinks won 22.2 percent of the votes, PvdA ended with 21.7 percent of the votes.
The parties were followed by the VVD (11 percent of the votes), D66 (9.4 percent) and CDA (6.4 percent).
GroenLinks and PvdA were also the fastest growing parties, with an increase of 8.5 and 7.7 percentage points respectively compared to the European elections in 2015.
Forum for Democracy also received 6.4 percent of the votes. The party, led by Derk Jan Eppink in the European parliamentary elections, did not participate in European elections before.Greenleft attracts a lot of highly educated, academical, vocational university (HBO: Hoger Beroeps Onderwijs; Higher Professional Education) and university students, young progressive working people, and some former Labour Party (PvdA), centrist D66 party and Socialist Party voting people and even some former centre right CDA (Christian Democrats) and VVD (Conservative liberal party of prime minister Mark Rutte) people, and people who vote on a party who stands for climate measures, alternative energy sources, social policies, social security and leftwing social market thinking, Fair trade and a party which supports multi-culturalism. Some people vote for Greenleft strategically and see their vote as a anti-VVD (largest party), anti-rightwing populist, anti-xenophobia, anti-racist and anti-Rigtwing Populism (anti-Geert Wilders and Anti-Thierry Baudet, anti Freedom Party [PVV] and anti-Forum for Democracy [Forum voor Democratie, FvD] vote. Greenleft is popular amongst young women and older women.
The Greenleft political party in a very smart way learned from the 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama during the past years during the 2017 Dutch general election (the elections that elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives), the Dutch municipal elections of 2018 and the Dutch Provincial elections in March and the European elections past Thursday. Through forums and social websites such as MySpace, Twitter and Facebook, like Obama, Jesse Klaver built relationships with his supporters, and would-be supporters. Like Obama, Klaver developed an upfront, personable and face-to-face quality that gave his supporters a sense of security and trust, which inspired them to rally others in their local communities. The supporters of GroenLinks (Greenleft) like Obama's Democratic volunteers, Democratic militants, lobbyists, fundraisers, Opinion leadership, cadre, Democratic party functionaries, senators (representing their state, district or city) themselves formed a nationwide community.
Greenleft has 250 branches in nearly all Dutch municipalities and each province. There are multiple municipalities in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, where every borough has its own branch and they have federal branches at the municipal level. Branches enjoy considerable independence, and take care of their own campaigns, lists of candidates and programs for elections. Greenleft now takes a central position in the Dutch left between the socialist SP, which is more to the left, and the social-democratic PvdA (the Duch Labour Party), which is more to the centre. Where the Social Democrats with their Labour Party (PvdA), Social Democratic Trade Union in the Past (NVV/FNV), Social Democratic broadcast corporation VARABNN, leftwing university professors and economists, social democratic intelligentsia and leftwing leaning newspapers and magazines and thus leftwing (Social Democratic) journalists and Social democratic mayors, Aldermen, Prime Ministers, Ministers, state secretaries, King's Commissioners (Commissarissen van de Koning) and secretary generals of the ministries and departments of the coalition governments, Social Democratic Primary school and High school teachers and librarians dominated the Dutch political landscape for decades during the seventies, eighties and nineties, the Social Democratic Labour party (PvdA) lost the support of it's traditional working class base, voting students, lower middle class and civil servants. In that sense the Netherlands is very different than for instance Germany, Great-Britain and the USA, where the traditional parties still dominate. Fact that although a small party today, that old class of Social Democratic, Labour, administrators, advisors (advisory boards), specialists, managers, ceo's, civil servants still has a considerate amount of power without democratic legitimation, control or putting things into a democratic perspective. The Arnhem city mayor Ahmed Marchouch is a Labour Party (PvdA) mayor who was voted by the city councillors, but he has no democratic legitimation, because the Labour party is not the largest party in Arnhem. Fact is however that the Labour party is a member of the city administration of Mayor and aldermen and alderwomen. The Labour Party (PvdA) has one alderwomen in the city administration coalition of GroenLinks, VVD, D66 and the Labour Party (PvdA).
Never in the history of the post war (after 1945) Netherlands we had this situation that the non-traditional and non-centrist political parties and movements were so dominant and influential. The Dutch Greens (with their heritage of radical left roots, Greenleft came to existence as a merger party in 1989 of what we called 'the small left' [Klein Links] radical leftwing political parties; the Communist Party of the Netherlands (CPN), the Political Party Radicals (PPR), the Pacifist Socialist Party (PSP), and the leftwing evangelical 'Evangelical Peoples Party' [Evangelische Volks Partij] EVP) managed to attract a younger, more free thinking, social liberal, pragmatic Post-1989 generation of student activists, young Greenleft activists of the Youth movement of the party, DWARS ("Contrary") ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DWARS ), young working progressives who had no connection nor history in the old, Small Left (Klein Linkse) political parties CPN, PPR, PSP and EVP. This younger pragmatic lefting post 1989 generation formed the basis for the succes of the present (GroenLinks).
Jesse Klaver also in an intelligent way used press and media, TV shows, radio programs and GroenLinks party video's, website and mass meetings to generate and form his leftwing movement. The Dutch media speak about the Klaver effect, the Klaver charisma, and the fact that he had experience in Greenleft, before the became the party leader and the leader of the Greenleft Parliamentarian fraction in the parliament.
Between 2006 and 2009, he was member of the board of DWARS, the youth organization of GroenLinks. First, he was duo-chair for organization matters, later he was secretary and then he was elected chair. As chair, he supported the "freedom-loving course set by Femke Halsema" against the more communitarian elements within the party. In addition to serving in this function, he studied social work at the Avans University of Applied Sciences and the transition program for the master political science at the University of Amsterdam. He quit the transition program before finishing it.
On 17 September 2009, he was elected chair of the youth union of the *CNV (the National Federation of Christian Trade Unions in the Netherlands). As chair he announced he would put less emphasis on the Christian character of the CNV. He supported raising the retirement age to 67. On 1 December 2009, he was appointed to the Social Economic Council. Being 23 years old, he was the youngest member ever to sit on this council. In addition to chairing the CNV youth union, he co-authored the 2010 GroenLinks election manifesto; he was member of the board of the Christian Social Youth Congress and he was founder of the climate NGO Youth Copenhagen Coalition.This smooth Greenleft Propaganda video shows the attractiveness of Greenleft for young people and older leftwing peopleGreenleft is closely related to the German Bündnis 90/Die Grünen or Grüne (Alliance 90/The Greens), the Belgian Groen/Ecolo, the French Europe Écologie Les Verts, the Austrian Die Grünen – Die Grüne Alternative ('The Greens – The Green Alternative'), the Polish Partia Zieloni ( partiazieloni.pl/en/ ), and other European Green Parties. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leader_of_GreenLeft* The National Federation of Christian Trade Unions in the Netherlands exists next to the largest Trade Union of the Netherlands the Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging (English: Federation of Dutch Trade Unions; FNV), a federation of trade unions of the Netherlands. Compared to the CNV, the other major trade union centre, the FNV is more leftwing and has more often used strikes, although the use of these actions is rare in the Netherlands in comparison to other European countries. It is quite remarkable that Jesse Klaver has that more moderate CNV background, because the FNV with it's NVV ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nederlands_Verbond_van_Vakverenigingen ) roots has a more leftwing Social-democratic, socialist working class Union image, even though the FNV is more general today. I am for instance a member of the FNV due to it's Media and Culture branch for people with a Press, Media and culture and art background. But I respect the CNV and other Trade Unions in the Netherlands, like The Federation of Managerial and Professional Staff Unions (MHP) and the Alternative for Trade Union (AVV). The activist left Populist, leftwing Nationalist and lefwing socialist Social Democratic Socialist Party is present at any FNV Union action, whether it is an action of Bus drivers on strike, people of cleaning companies, factory workers, nurses, civil servants or metal workers, they are there. Many SP politicians are FNV Union functionary, members, and Union action leaders. The SP has replaced the Labour Party (PvdA) as the working class party and workers activist party. The Labour Party (PvdA/SDAP: 1894-2019) exist 125 years, and the Socialist Party (SP: 1971-2019) exists exists about 47 1/5 year. The SP uses old fashionate Marxist slogans and leftwing populist paroles in it's statements and progaganda. |
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Post by kaima on May 27, 2019 11:25:56 GMT -7
I had coffee with several neighbors today and one of them made the comment "How / why did Hitler ever get elected?" and, since I was in the midst of strong Trump supporters, I did not give them my thoughts - that Hitler was a populist and promised the people radical change in the traditional direction, just as Trump is a populist and promised radical change in America.
Obviously this was a group of people I felt are so thoroughly convinced that everything Trump does is good, that I did not think my comment would lead to discussion and consideration, but rather simply be taken as an anti-Trump political statement. Too bad, it could be an interesting discussion. One that could be applied to the comparison of populists in this EU election.
Kai
PS> Jaga, I am amazed by the geographic split in voting shown on the Polish map!
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Post by pieter on May 27, 2019 13:02:40 GMT -7
Kaima,
It is stunning how open European rightwing Populists use xenophobia, superiority thinking (one nation over the other, white Europeans above non white Black African, Berber North African, Arab/Persian Middle Eastern, South-East-Asians, and the christian religion and 'civilization' above the 'backward' Islam, and other non Western religions, mythologies and philosophies and cultures), scape goats, stereotypes, old cliché's, racism, discrimination as a tool of distinction, nativism, identitarianism, absolutism (you can only think in only one Nationalist, rightwing populist and national conservative way like them), economic nationalism and isolationism and merge that with modern public relations tools, political marketing tools, agitprop means, advertisement techniques, cinematographic techniques, and merging some old moderate elements of the European social democracy, christian democracy and classical liberalism with old Italian fascism, certain German/Austrian nazi elements and old West-European Neo-Nazism.
Where is the proof, where are your sources, where is the evidence you and others will or might say. I reply with history is the proof. Check the past of some of these rightwing Populist leaders and you find them back in the late seventies or eighties in far right ultra nationalist, Peoples Nationalist or Neo Nazi circles. More recently there was and is evidence that old Neo-Nazi party NPD leaders, militants and politicians switched party and today are member, parliamentarian in the Bundestag (German parliament) or activist for the Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland) party. Leaders and activists of the Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang) party are former Belgian Neo-Nazi's. The same counts for people of the Austrian FPÖ, the Sweden Democrats, the Greek Golden Dawn, the French Rassemblement national (National Rally) and the Italian Lega Nord.
In the Netherlands we have today 2 Trumpist, Far right, rightwing Populist, National conservative, nationalist political parties. The Freedom party of Geert Wilders, which lost, but which is still strong present in the Dutch parliament and the Forum for Democracy of Thierry Baudet who grew during the European elections and if the tides don't change might be the largest political party in the Netherlands during the next national elections in the Netherlands.
Cheers,
Pieter
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Post by Jaga on May 27, 2019 19:57:42 GMT -7
I think there is lots of true that people vote for populists and the name "Hitler" was not considered a symbol of war and evil in the 30s like it is now. I agree with the assessment of people who vote for populists and are convinced that their leader is always right. It is sad but true I had coffee with several neighbors today and one of them made the comment "How / why did Hitler ever get elected?" and, since I was in the midst of strong Trump supporters, I did not give them my thoughts - that Hitler was a populist and promised the people radical change in the traditional direction, just as Trump is a populist and promised radical change in America. Obviously this was a group of people I felt are so thoroughly convinced that everything Trump does is good, that I did not think my comment would lead to discussion and consideration, but rather simply be taken as an anti-Trump political statement. Too bad, it could be an interesting discussion. One that could be applied to the comparison of populists in this EU election. Kai PS> Jaga, I am amazed by the geographic split in voting shown on the Polish map! |
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Post by Jaga on May 27, 2019 19:59:00 GMT -7
Pieter,
something is changing permanently in the world as you said:
+++is stunning how open European rightwing Populists use xenophobia, superiority thinking (one nation over the other+++
it is as like reformation was followed by contra-reformation etc
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more people turned to vote in 22 out of 28 states. Even in Poland the number was higher. That means that people take it seriously: