quote:

The latest opinion polls suggest Le Pen has a real chance of winning, representing a significant threat to the French establishment and the unity of the EU. When her father shocked France by eliminating the Socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin in 2002 to challenge Jacques Chirac in the run-off for president, he lost by 82 per cent of the votes to 18 per cent. The front républicain, the defensive system under which voters choose a candidate they dislike to keep out the one they hate, showed its value: the left voted en masse for the centre-right Chirac.

Fast forward to 2017, and the gap had narrowed. In the second-round battle, Macron beat Le Pen by 66 per cent to 34 per cent. Next year, according to the latest opinion polls, Le Pen could lead in the first round and therefore be assured of a place in the final, and if it is Macron that makes it through as well then he is currently forecast to win by as little as 53 per cent to 47 per cent, according to a Harris Interactive-L’Opinion poll in March. The front républicain system is crumbling because many leftwing voters say they will abstain. Some may even vote for Le Pen, whose strongholds are in the industrial towns of the north once dominated by communists.

“Is it too early to start talking about this?” asks Dungan. “No it’s not. The polls right now show Le Pen and Macron pretty well neck-and-neck. It’s not that people are hostile to Macron. It’s that they’re not certain he understands them.”

HerraS posted:

The answer is to just get more racist, simple

quote:

Gérald Darmanin, Macron’s hardline interior minister, is leading the charge to appeal to far-right and centre-right voters — as well as old-fashioned secular republicans of the left — by trying to crack down on crime and restrict immigration, and by highlighting the president’s campaign against Islamist terrorism and “separatism” in Muslim-dominated suburbs.

In an FT interview in March, Darmanin said the danger for France was “to let Madame Le Pen become president of the republic because we’ve shown ourselves to be too naive, too soft”.

Kaveman posted:

What happened to melenchon

Kaveman posted:

What happened to melenchon

Algund Eenboom posted:

Hon hon hon! Ze military shall rule if you do not dizcard ze critical race theory!

Kaveman posted:

What happened to melenchon

quote:

French law does not prohibit the wearing of the hijab or other religious symbols in images that appear on campaign fliers.

The affair over the campaign poster erupted after Jordan Bardella, number two in the far-right Rassemblement National party of Marine Le Pen, tweeted a copy of the flyer with the message: “Is this how you fight separatism?”

Guerini responded directly on Twitter, demanding either the flyer be withdrawn or the candidate Sara Zemmahi lose the party’s support.

quote:

French intelligence agents charged with attempted murder
Police discover agents in stolen car with false plates while plot to kill woman was not part of duties
Wed 5 Aug 2020 12.14 EDT

Preliminary attempted murder charges have been filed against two agents from France’s foreign intelligence agency over an alleged plan to kill a 54-year-old woman last month in the Creteil suburb of Paris, the city prosecutor’s office has said.

French media reported on Wednesday that the directorate-general for external security (DGSE) agents were believed to have been plotting to kill a target, but not as part of their job duties. The agency is the French equivalent of the CIA.

The Paris prosecutor said the two agents were discovered by police on 24 July in a stolen car with a false number plate. In the vehicle, officers also found army knives and a bag containing a handgun with 12 rounds of ammunition.

The prosecutor’s office said they were handed the preliminary charges on Monday. The Paris prosecutor did not give any indication as to the motive for the alleged plot.

A third DGSE agent was arrested on 31 July and handed preliminary charges of complicity in the attempted murder as part of an organised gang. If convicted, all three could face up to 10 years in prison.

Maximo Roboto posted:

R. Mute posted:

Can any French person shine a light on the whole freemason assassination squad thing that apparently also involves French soldiers and spooks?

quote:

Also, did anything happen with those letters by those generals/soldiers threatening civil war or did life just move on?

I think it struck a nerve because we here in Belgium have a nazi soldier who ran off with a bunch of guns and literal RPGs who was going to assassinate our top virologist and attack a mosque or something. They did a whole manhunt and can't find him so life is sort of just moving on? He probably blew his brains out by now and is rotting in a ditch somewhere but still wth

i say swears online posted:

rip LREM, rip national rally

Toplowtech posted:

I know i am late, but didn't they recently found that rear end in a top hat corpse in the wood?