Racist Party in France Wins Almost 10 Percent of the National Vote

The ultra-rightwing National Front Party, whose leader, Jean Marie Le Pen, has been denounced as a racist and an anti-Semite by Jewish community leaders, elbowed its way into Parliament Sunday in national elections that left the winning center-right coalition four seats short of the majority they need to form a government.

Le Pen, whose party won 35 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly–and nearly 10 percent of the total vote compared to one percent in the last elections–promptly declared he would not support a new center-right government unless he is part of it. The possibility looms that he well may be.

Only last week a court sentenced Le Pen to a symbolic fine after finding him guilty of racist remarks when he insulted four Jewish reporters who had been critical of his party’s activities. In an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency last year, Le Pen denied he was anti-Jewish. He admitted being anti-Arab and favors expelling immigrant guest workers, many of whom are of North African origin.

The National Front Party won four seats in Marseilles, a city plagued by unemployment which has a large population of guest workers from North Africa. It matched the center-right coalition which also won four seats in Marseilles. Le Pen himself was elected in Paris where he polled II percent of the vote.

ELEMENTS IN THE ANTI-SOCIALIST COALITION

The coalition which beat President Francois Mitterrand’s Socialist Party consists of the neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR), headed by Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac, and the liberal Union for French Democracy (UDF) whose leader is former President Valery Giscard d’Estaing.

Together with several independent rightwing deputies, they polled 22.5 percent of the national vote which translates–under the system of proportional representation introduced by Mitterrand–to 293 seats in the National Assembly, four short of a majority.

The Communist Party, which won 35 Assembly seats with slightly less than 10 percent of the national vote, suffered its worst defeat since 1924. Political analysts believe its debacle was attributable in part to the party’s poor record on human rights.

The Representative Council of Major French Jewish Organizations (CRIF) issued a communique on the eve of the elections calling on the Jewish community to vote “according to each and every one’s political and ideological convictions.” It made only two exceptions–the National Front and the Communist Party.

Nevertheless, some Jews cast votes for the extreme left and extreme right. The Communist daily, L’Humanite, published an appeal last week signed by 200 Jews urging Jews to vote Communist. Several Jews wrote to local Jewish newspaper protesting the CRIF communique and stated they would vote for Le Pen’s party.

According to the French Constitution, Mitterrand will serve out his term which expires in 1988. He will remain in charge of foreign affairs, though probably in consultation with the new center-right Prime Minister he must appoint. This is expected to be Chirac who was Premier in Giscard’s government.

But Mitterrand could appoint a “dark horse.” One name mentioned is Simone Veil, former President of the Parliament of Europe, who is Jewish and a survivor of Auschwitz.

The Jewish weekly Tribune Juive was pleased with the election results. An editorial in its next edition states that “strong parliaments are generally good for Jews.” As an example, the paper noted that the U.S. Congress is Israel’s best friend in America, even at times when the Administration is less receptive to Israel’s needs than it is now.

According to Tribune Juive, nothing could be better for Israel and the French Jewish community than a pro-Israel President such as Mitterrand and a National Assembly dominated by the Socialists and center-right parties.