French voters hold key to how far the extreme right can go

MARSEILLE, France (CN) — Simply winning the final round of France's snap legislative elections Sunday won't be enough for the far-right National Rally — which came out ahead in the first round of voting last week — to take control of the country’s domestic agenda. The RN's power will come down to whether the controversial party can earn an absolute majority.

Jordan Bardella, the protégé of RN stalwart Marine Le Pen and president of the party, said he wouldn't accept the position of prime minister unless they win more than 50% of the vote. If his group doesn't establish an absolute majority, the government would essentially be deadlocked, with power split between a president of one party and a prime minister of another — and Bardella wouldn't have the backing needed to push legislation through.

But even if the RN wins outright, his ability to pass legislation could be less clear-cut than some have made it seem.

“The real question is, what his capacity is to implement his program?” Benjamin Biard, a researcher at the Center for Socio-Political Research and Information, told Courthouse News. “It’s very complex.”

Bardella’s campaign mandate centers around the three topics voters deem most important: purchasing power, security and immigration. Proposals include lowering taxes on energy, suspending welfare benefits for parents with delinquent children, and streamlining deportation procedures for undocumented immigrants.

But Biard said there are a couple of factors that could work against Bardella, regardless of his margin of victory. The RN wouldn’t necessarily have control of the Senate, which could mean major obstacles for passing legislation. The party would also have to abide by EU and international laws.

Since many of the RN’s key measures would require changing the constitution, party members face a hurdle regardless of how many seats they win on Sunday: French President Emmanuel Macron would have to sign off on any constitutional reforms.

Bardella recently made headlines by confirming that he wants to reserve sensitive government jobs for people who only hold French citizenship, meaning dual nationals couldn't have certain posts. The proposal violates anti-discrimination laws and sparked widespread backlash.

The RN vowed to hold constitutional referendums to push these measures through. Macron in turn said he would block any such efforts.

Mandates like these fall under the party’s general policy of “national preference,” an umbrella term covering the RN’s campaign to strip foreigners of certain rights enshrined in the constitution. The party presents the policy as common sense, while critics argue it normalizes widespread discrimination and violates both French and European law.

Such proposals also raise alarm bells about the RN’s history of xenophobia, which critics say still drives its policies. In the decades since its founding in 1972, the party has been wrapped up in scandals over the antisemitic and racist rhetoric of its founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, who said that the Holocaust’s gas chambers were a “detail” of history.

Marine Le Pen took over from her father as leader of the party, which has worked hard to normalize its image. Many credit Bardella: He’s young, good-looking and well-spoken, and he doesn’t bear the family name.

“It has evolved significantly over time, where this party was mostly considered dangerous for democracy,” Biard said. “That is the result of a strategy of de-demonization that Marine Le Pen is undertaking.”

But questions remain over how much the party has actually evolved. On Thursday, an RN candidate in Alsace said he still “has doubts” about the gas chambers, and defended Jean-Marie Le Pen’s original comments. He withdrew from the race after sparking national outrage.

“Even with Bardella, who doesn’t have the face of the party’s origins, the origins are the same, and it’s a party that was founded by Nazis,” Alissa Pouchoreu, a 20-year-old woman waiting around Marseille’s Vieux Port metro on Friday, told Courthouse News. “They’re racists, and we risk having Nazis in power — it’s very grave.”

The RN’s hardline immigration policies also raise concern. The party's official campaign mandate proposes an end to birthright citizenship, which children of foreign parents earn after living on French territory for a number of years. The measure would strip working foreigners of certain social benefits, like health care, even though they contribute to these benefits. It would also make illegal residency a crime.

“It’s a group that gets by on its racism,” Pouchoreu said. “There are a lot of people at risk of being in danger.”

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