French press review 5 December 2015

Sunday’s regional elections in France dominate the front pages of the national dailies as commentators warn of far-reaching implications of the projected victory of the far right National Front movement of Marine Le Pen.

DR

In a rare break with tradition, some dailies bluntly appeal to voters to block the far-right party's attempt to capitalize on the country’s fragile situation to implement its populist and xenophobic agenda.

The most vitriolic editorial comes from Le Monde. Its managing editor Jérôme Fenoglio urged voters to take Marine Le Pen’s far right movement seriously and understand that it constitutes a grave threat to the country. According to the evening paper, the FN’s ideology, its political project, are all against the Republican values upheld by France, its national interest and France’s international image.

“Since when has desertion become a solution », wonders Liberation in an emotional piece questioning the disturbing tendency that has seen an explosion of the abstention rate in recent elections.

Going by the opinion of the publication’s managing editor Laurent Joffrin, excessive abstention will not just distort the verdict from the ballot box. As he put it, a low turnout will also allow the party of the nationalists to score a spectacular victory by capitalizing on the fears and the rejection of others.

La Charente Libre’s editor, Dominique Garraud appeals to the battalions of boycotters not to send a bad message of xenophobia and populism to the rest of the world warning that the FN’s political program is nothing but impostures and pure deceptions.

In today’s Ouest France, François Régis Hutin, bluntly invites voters to refrain from expressing their bad humour in the ballot box.

Le Figaro’s Paul Henri du Limbert, argues that the rise of the National Front would spell the death of the conservatives. For the paper, “the choice is clear” and they must shed the moral influence exerted on them by the left and reject all forms of alliance of convenience with the left between the two rounds of the election.

According to the right-wing publication’s boss, the conservative “Les Républicains” party must as a matter of priority undertake a complete overhaul of their doctrine. That, he says is the best strategy to bring back disillusioned voters and curb the influence of the National Front.

Le Midi Libre’s editor Yann Marec, urges the so-called « Bataclan generation", to rise and "take their weapon, the ballot paper”, not without reminding them that Sunday’s regional elections get underway three weeks after the Paris terror attacks.

Marec challenges them not to miss the opportunity to "express"-- in the strongest way possible--their ideals in the ballot box. “If France has changed since the past 21 days," he argues, "let’s all come out and show it, starting tomorrow".

And Bernard Stéphan, editor of La Montagne Centre-France, sums up the arguments by pointing to the irony that only a small number of citizens who intend to cast ballots on Sunday will be voting rationally for the real issue at stake: the management of France’s regions.