'True Gauls' don't give up on the loss of Le Pen

It is not noticeable on this Sunday evening in the Parisian city park Bois de Boulogne that the average Le Pen voter lives in the countryside. The supporters of the far-right French politicians who have gathered at the posh Pavillon d’Armenonville, where Marine Le Pen hosts her results evening of the second round of the presidential election, are impeccably dressed and coiffed young men and women.

One of them is Théo Fontaine (23) from Lille in northern France, not far from Hénin-Beaumont, home of party leader Marine Le Pen. Since he started being attracted to her ideas three years ago, he has also become politically active for her party Rassemblement National. Even though the entrance to the park is guarded by dozens of police vans and officers with machine guns drawn, the atmosphere at Fontaine and the likes is good at the beginning of the evening. In rural areas, he knows, the turnout is higher than expected. That would be beneficial for Le Pen.

Also read: France opts for continuity with clothespins That Le Pen indeed gets her votes from the countryside becomes clear when the newspaper Le Monde presents a preliminary results card later in the evening. Where Paris is colored orange, Macron’s color, there is a wide ring of departments around the capital colored brown, indicating Le Pen’s party. Patriotism Fontaine admires Le Pen for her “patriotism,” he says. “She stands up for all generations.” And she has “bright ideas”, such as the preferencee or priority national, the term the politician uses for her preferential policy for French people compared to foreigners – among other things, she wants people with a French passport to have more rights in the field of social housing and work. A matter of “common sense”, according to Fontaine. “We welcome so many people, then the French should be given priority.” In the background, an elderly gentleman walks by with his gray beard tied up with rubber bands in the French Tricolore. Just past the police vans are also dozens of jet cars from the flocking world media. A president Le Pen would be world news, the BBC and the VRT also know. According to a press spokesman for the Rassemblement National, 2,000 journalists had accredited themselves for Le Pen’s results evening. Only a quarter of them are allowed in.

Ever since I voted for Marine’s father in 1988, I’ve been afraid to cast my vote

Christian Jacques supporter of Marine Le Pen

In a brasserie near the Arc de Triomphe, elsewhere in Paris, the tension rises towards eight. It’s whispered about lesson Belges† the French-speaking Belgian public broadcaster RTBF does not have to comply with the strict French publication ban and already reports before the official forecast that Macron will be re-elected. That turns out to be correct at eight o’clock: a majority of 58 percent of the French, just like five years ago, prefers Emmanuel Macron over Marine Le Pen as president of the Republic. While supporters of the president wave large French flags under the Eiffel Tower, Le Pen supporters trickle out of the pavilion, holding a small tricolor in hand. Also read: Marine Le Pen advances with radical right program under ‘cloak of everyday life’ Christian Jacques (67), retired, from the Seine-et-Marne department near Paris – “nice and quiet living, many animals and few immigrants” – watches it, hands in pockets, shoulders down. Le Pen’s loss is due to “the demonization by the media,” Jacques said. “Ever since I voted for Marine’s father in 1988, I’ve been afraid to cast my vote.” It does make him hopeful that a new generation, such as Fontaine, is active for the party. “They are real Gauls.”

Combatant Speech

Moments earlier, Le Pen delivered a militant speech in the pavilion announcing that she would continue to fight Macron at least until the June parliamentary elections. Not unimportant: for the past five years Macron has been able to have a parliamentary majority, and Le Pen is committed to avoiding that scenario now.

Théo Fontaine, while smoking a cigarette outside the pavilion after the speech, points to the bright spots of the result: 42 percent of the French support their party leader. Macron may have won France, but that doesn’t mean he wins parliament. We are going to make it very difficult for him.”

A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of April 25, 2022

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