The French Left Wing
Dr Nicole McLean
Thursday 11th November, 150 days until the first election round
Bonjour !
Our Living The French Elections 2022 discussion group had a special guest on Remembrance Day this year. Internationalist lawyer, university professor in public law and regular commentator on French politics on French television, Jean-Claude Beaujour, came to talk to the group about some of the challenges the Left is facing in France today.
According to Jean-Claude, there are multiple obstacles the Left needs to address for them to win an election again. The Left has lost around 50%-60% of voters to the Right in recent years and this can be attributed to a number of things.
The working class has changed in France and old-Left organisations have vanished, meaning it is not so easy to pull voters as it once was. The Left is not managing to mobilise or attract new voters in modern-day society.
Polarisation is quite severe so much so that politicians need to hold extremist views in order to attract attention and, therefore, voters. Left-wing politicians are not taking bold extremist stances. Instead, they avoid addressing key issues around immigration and public security. This results in the Left losing voters that are genuinely worried about their futures.
There is also a lack of unity between all the left-wing candidates and they are divided on many issues including secularism and different cultural groups. To win, the Left needs to back just one candidate. Yet with no left-leaning candidates currently leading the polls, it will be near impossible for the Left to make a come-back this time round.
Stayed tuned for the next political instalment from France!