Elections across Europe this spring are giving former fringe political parties a boost, as voter anger in Greece, Germany and France translates into bigger gains for the far left and far right.
“What these populist extremists in the left and the right try to exploit is a lack of community, cohesion and [sense of] belonging in people,” said Henning Meyer, a political scientist at the London School of Economics.
“They try to address the disaffected, the people who feel desperate.”
Economic turmoil in Europe is bringing political upheaval in its wake, analysts say.
The significant turnout for Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front in the first round of the French presidential election April 22 has been read as a protest against French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s complicity in the ongoing eurozone sovereign debt crisis. Ms. Le Pen won about 18 percent on a platform of scrapping the euro currency and quashing “Islamization” in France.
Meanwhile, the anti-European Union far left won about 11 percent of the French vote.
In Greece, three extreme right-wing parties are predicted to win as much as 15 percent of the national vote Sunday as reaction to growing poverty and unemployment blamed on severe austerity measures imposed by the EU, analysts say.
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/3/fringe-parties-tilting-europe-left-and-right/
“What these populist extremists in the left and the right try to exploit is a lack of community, cohesion and [sense of] belonging in people,” said Henning Meyer, a political scientist at the London School of Economics.
“They try to address the disaffected, the people who feel desperate.”
Economic turmoil in Europe is bringing political upheaval in its wake, analysts say.
The significant turnout for Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front in the first round of the French presidential election April 22 has been read as a protest against French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s complicity in the ongoing eurozone sovereign debt crisis. Ms. Le Pen won about 18 percent on a platform of scrapping the euro currency and quashing “Islamization” in France.
Meanwhile, the anti-European Union far left won about 11 percent of the French vote.
In Greece, three extreme right-wing parties are predicted to win as much as 15 percent of the national vote Sunday as reaction to growing poverty and unemployment blamed on severe austerity measures imposed by the EU, analysts say.
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/3/fringe-parties-tilting-europe-left-and-right/
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