Bobos Versus Fachos: French Presidential Election 2017

So after all the excitement, the result was as everyone had predicted: Marcon v Le Pen for the second round on May 7th.

Unless you’ve been living under a very large rock for the past year you will have heard of the many comparisons made with the recent US elections, Brexit and this Election Présidentielle 2017. The rise of the far-right across Europe. The unreliability of polling, and the impact of mass immigration have led to a genuine fear that Marine Le Pen could succeed where her further-right father didn’t, to become France’s president.

What’s really interesting here – and unprecedented – is that neither of the two formerly biggest parties are represented in this second round. Macron was formerly of the Socialist Party of current president Francois Hollande. But he left in 2009 and subsequently set up his own En Marche! – which means Let’s Go! – movement.

Francois Fillon, the candidate for the U.M.P. of Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac, received just 19.9% of the vote on the first round last Sunday. This meant that for the first time in that party’s history its presidential candidate didn’t make it through to the second round.

Polls are showing that Macron is on track to win this one. However, as the Socialist Party leader Jean-Christophe Cambadélis warned just this week on French radio, Macron shouldn’t be smug about the outcome of the election. It’s not a done deal. Look what happened to Hillary.

After last Sunday’s result, Macron went off to dine with celebrities and rich friends in an exclusive Parisien restaurant. Just like Clinton and her thousand-dollar dinners with George Clooney and the like.

Bobos v fachos

All I’m saying is complacency is not an option here. The battle between supporters of Le Pen and supporters of Macron is seen as #bobos (bourgeois-bohème – what we call hipster, liberal) versus #fachos (fascist, right-wing).

However, there is still a large proportion of the electorate who are calling themselves PRAF – which stands for plus rien à fourte (I no longer care). It’s these undecideds that could potentially make a difference in this election.  They may choose to go “ni-ni” or “ni patrie, ni patron” which means turning in a blank or spoiled vote to show their rejection of Le Pen’s ultra-nationalism and Macron’s ultra-capitalist ideology.

An attitude of smugness could rile up those undecideds that have had enough of the status quo – rich bankers and corporations getting tax breaks while income inequality rises. Could Marine Le Pen’s version of “Make America Great Again” “On Est Chez Nous” win over those, the so-called forgotten French, who have seen their jobs and income diminish while the wealthy have flourished.

A recent Guardian article looked at the choices available to these French voters, between the unpalatable and the unacceptable. And that’s exactly how himself feels. He hates Le Pen and what she stands for, but voting for Macron is a matter of choosing the least worst. For him, as well as many many others, it’s a case of holding their nose and voting for Macron just to stop Le Pen getting in.

Meanwhile, left-wing Mélenchon has been criticised for refusing to tell his supporters how to vote.

Anyway, I know that I, like many others around the world, will be watching events closely this week, and refreshing my screen on Sunday as the results come in, hoping, with little enthusiasm, for the least worst.