Are the ‘two main parties’ on the skids?
It’s not often you want to start the day with far right French nationalist’s words ringing in your ears. But Marine Le Pen’s words after winning nearly one in five French votes in the presidential election have an eerie ring.
Ms Le Pen spoke of a people fed up with the “two main parties”; fed up too with paying the price for the “misperformance of the banks” with which she says successive governments have been in league with; fed up too, with immigration.
Does Bradford West speak of this? Hard to tell. But love him or hate him, the nature of George Galloway’s victory has not been seen in 50 years. Ms Le Pen’s 18 per cent in France is also without modern precedent. Both votes speak of discontent with the status quo.
Read more: Hollande edges Sarkozy in French election first round
But think too of Scotland. The wholesale demolition of the “two main parties” and their replacement by a nationalist party which was once as far out on the fringes of life as once was Ms Le Pen’s National Front.
If you add in the vote of the hard left in France – 11 per cent – the two extremes in France polled together more than each of the other two main parties – 29 per cent to Hollande’s 28 per cent, and Sarkozy’s 27 per cent. Something is happening here and it is happening in a country very much more like Britain than Greece is.
Speaking of Greece, watch the case that Greek lawyers are taking to the International Criminal Court charging the “the two main parties” with genocide. I’m not suggesting the case has a cat’s chance, but it reflects the nationwide desperation in Greece with austerity, deprivation, and widespread emigration. Greece has a general election all too dangerously soon.
Sterling perhaps gives us a sense of detachment. Our borrowing rates on the markets are good. But our austerity regime also risks alienation. The belief, right or wrong, that “we the people” are paying the bankers’ price is widespread.
Strangely, the novelty of coalition politics may be disguising what is going on beneath the surface. We can hardly determine what is really happening by analysing one Galloway.
But the political classes in Europe are in trouble. France tells us the extremes are in play. No one knows what Greece will tell us. What will the Local elections in the UK tell us? Anything? As the membership of the UK’s political parties plummets, is London happy with a Mayoral choice that comes down to “the two main parties”? Don’t yet hold your breath for a Green or Independent breakthrough.
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There are 12 comments on this post
Hello John,
I hope you are well. The problem I think, for Political Parties of all persuasions, all over the World, is one and the same. People have become interested in Politics: with interest comes knowledge; with knowledge comes power, but that power is what the politicians want? They don’t want us to be interested in Politics at all, they just want us to be interested enough to vote for them and their superficial promises of a better life for all: but we have learned that their promises are as empty as they are shallow. No longer is Politics about Political Idealism, no; it’s about Political Careerism. They (the mainstream politicians) all have exactly the same monolithic game plan, it’s no wonder that those on the extremes are gaining in popularity. As Bill Murray said on the morning of February 3rd, “Different is good”.
Laters
Rachel
Le Penn had some very good social ideas/policies (apart from her abhorrent ones) which will now presumably be cherry picked by Sarkozy. The size of the vote for her could push Sarkozy through to another victory if he plays his cards right(wing). The Front de Gauche voters will presumably turn to Hollande but whether its enough to get a win, who knows?
There would have been more of a shock if Sakozy hadn’t got as high a vote as he did as some polls suggested last week he could come 3rd…
The real story here for the UK is the size of the turnout – 80% plus… thats HUGE! Wake up UK and vote.
You should look deeper in both Bradford & Scotland!
In Bradford, the City shopping centre was demolished years ago by a Tory administration. Labour and Lib-Dems did not complain about the hundreds of jobs lost. The local newspaper lauded the destruction too.
No-one spoke for the people who saw trade diverted to other nearby towns, to be lost forever. Along comes Gorgeous George with his dream-works fantasies and he gets elected in an unimportant election.
In Scotland the sugar-plum fairy is offering similar fanciful dreams. That European States will willing bend over backwards to give special terms to a break-away State, the fat fairy claims.
Can you imagine France wanting to set attractive precedents for their Corsican separatists? And as for Spain, don’t they have enough troubles without encouraging Basques, Catalans and others to breakaway? And then there’s Italy’s Northern League who want to break away from Napoli & Sicily. Special terms for Scotland – don’t you believe it!
Another thing: in both cases the voter turn-out was way below par.
Salmond & Galloway share a common theme: fantasies that no-one seriously believes. But which sound glamorous to bored electors.
I was asking myself today: What would be the worst – having Sarah Palin as president or Marie LePen? In different countries, of course, but still… Both are to me very, very frightening.
I remember my au pair time in Paris, during the 70s.
I was going out with the Algerian born man who was later to become my husband and father to my two children. Back then, it was Jean-Marie Le Pen who was trying to become president. It was not a good time to be an immigrant in France. I was not particularly well seen, as the girlfriend of a foreigner either, I can tell you – something which the police always pointed out, by continuously checking out our papers and telling me my friends were nothing but scum.
Marie’s father scared me then and she scares me now.
There is indeed something very eerie about nationalism.
I wish political parties would aim to unite rather than alienate, to look at togetherness and tolerance instead of egoism and self-praising.
With Breivik still describing his twisted, extreme-right thoughts in the Norwegian court, I think we need to reflect upon this. When the going gets tough – all countries look after their own first and become hostile to anything ‘foreign’.
I agree with most of the above. But i also believe politicians in the UK have a serious problem – referred to (to my surprise by Nadine Dorries today) about the lack of knowledge & interest most politicians have in the lives of ordinary people. Dorries was referring to Cameron & Osborne, but it could equally apply to all 3 main political parties here. They are all led & most of their senior people are professional politicians. Most started off life at least comfortable middle class & have no idea what it’s like to have to struggle to pay for things, to go without, to live in areas beset with crime, drug dealing, or just the daily unpleasantness of bored gangs of teenagers. Their solutions are borrowed and rarely come from their own understanding of the issues. Any compassion is synthetic. Political parties are seen as machines to elect professional politicians into power & then to manipulate the facts & the truth to their own advantage. The political parties have few real roots in society any more. They have turned into competing PR brands which offer almost identical policies – in terms of their effects on ordinary people – behind a charade which people increasingly see through
You have summed it up perfectly. But what should we do about it? Being disenchanted is one thing – getting the majority of people to vote outside of the 3 main parties is very difficult, compounded by our voting system making it possible to have safe seats where an MP is continually voted in despite not having the support of most of the constituents.
SNP = Scottish National (not Nationalist) Party. Comparing the SNP with the National Front in France is not comparing like with like. Look at the policies of the SNP and the nationalities of its MSPs to see the difference.
In talking with local friends, I am surprised how many are looking to the forthcoming council elections as a device to record their deep disenchantment with ‘traditional’ politics. They are all going to vote next week, but none for the Big 3.
It may be a dodgy sample, but most are heading for UKIP which, in many ways, is the UK’s equivalent of Le Pen.
Golloway was not a fluke, it was an indicator of things to come, of which the next clues will be delivered across the country next week.
The message is coming in both abstentions and minor party vote-levels – Cameron, Clegg and Miliband need to listen for once – it may be their last chance.
I think Rachel is absolutely right about politicians not really wanting to engage with citizens in any depth. The reform of the House of Lords is a classic example. It is being dismissed as ‘not a priority’ when in fact it is of vital importance. A democratically elected second chamber would be like a blood transfusion for Britain, especially if new members were elected every seven years, and had to ‘bring home the bacon’ as they do in the US. The proposed 15 year term is hardly going to regenerate British politics. Barack Obama was an elected member of America’s second chamber. If it were like Britain’s House of Lords, he wouldn’t be the US President now. No wonder there’s such reticence and shilly-shallying on both sides of the House. No wonder people are looking for alternatives. Most people know when they’re being fobbed off, and they either abstain from voting or they look elsewhere.
The last time the ruling parties were in disarray,in Europe,it bought Hitler to power, and how the world paid for that.Who knows what a realignment,in Europe might bring.Does anyone believe a Socialist,free spending France will be the long term answer?No doubt some do.The problem is Party Politics itself.Parties with an agenda of their own ,irrespective of the wishes of those that elect them.The EU is the current prime example,totally unrepresentative and costly.Yet you have countries like Greece that believed they could have a standard of living ,that did not require work,that the state would and could pay for its excesses.It clearly does not work yet there are those in this country who still want to follow a similar bleprint,who believe the state should be much more than a safety net,and provide a way of life from birth to death.
Until the Parties become representative,let the people have their say on a multitude of matters,we and the world will be under the dangerous threat of Nationalism
Cite a time when politics wasn’t scary, divided,a two party tug of war with discontent in the middle. The idea of new socialism was to address this as the third way ,taking politics through the two horns to create ‘politics new.’ All these ideals never work , there are too many variations on a theme and most individuals are concerned to feather their own nest.. this is competition, which all parties say is good.
Jonathan Rugman reported on Sunday of a swing to the left in France following 15 years of conservatism.. what exactly is left ?? what is right?? what is middle…answer: all tosh…it depends upon whose eyes we are seeing the same scenario from. The only real hint of left is that wonderful State welfare system we created and the NHS , but alas that was abused by private grabbers who saw it as a source of income and the benefits abusers who think they are clever, but hey! the bankers can’t even see their problem and no one really goes after them to ensure they are not cheating the public.
I propose a different view of politics which rises above all the grot we have learned to paradoxically rebel against, yet accept. An ariel view of things. now how can we make that work
Jon, I note you are pronouncing Bahrain, as Bachrain. When doing your French reports I look forward to hearing Borchdeaux and Pachree.