MORE THAN A QUARTER OF FRENCH VOTERS BACK LE PEN
PARIS December 14, 2006 (AFP)

In France, we have a vulgar expression that you can't paint merde.

Marine Le Pen,
Front National campaign director
and daughter of its presidential wannabe,
blindsided by irony
PARIS December 17, 2006 (Guardian)

PAINTED POO
Nicely Done, But It's Still Poo

Marine Le Pen talks up the FN 's new big tent with the Sunday Observer (Guardian). If you hold your nose and close your eyes, her National Front could be mistaken for Le Parti Socialiste with a bigger poing and smaller rose.

LE PEN DYNASTY'S BID TO RENEW APPEAL OF FAR RIGHT

PARIS December 14, 2006 (AFP) - 'For 30 years we have defended the interests of the French people, where ever they come from, whatever their race or religion,' she said. 'The idea of the posters is to put the French people in the foreground, not the candidate. We want to give them back the voice they have been denied by the political elite.'

The strategy is working. Poll results published in Le Monde late last week showed the FN at its highest levels of support for years, even better than in the run-up to the 2002 election where it polled 18 per cent and went through to the two-candidate run-off of the second round. In 1997 nearly half of French people saw Le Pen's ideas as unacceptable; now only a third do. ... 'People are only surprised because we have been caricatured for so many years. Now they are learning the truth. We have been seen as the devil for too long.' Truth for some, cynical marketing exercise for others. 'In France, we have a vulgar expression that you can't paint merde,' Le Pen, the youngest of former paratrooper Jean-Marie's three daughters, said. She was referring to the efforts of what she called political elites to 'cover up' the state of France's economic and social problems. Yet her phrase could equally be applied, critics say, to the FN itself.

... 'The most revealing statistic in recent months was a poll that showed that half of French people believe they could end up as homeless on the street.

'That is the depth of the anxiety of our compatriots,' Marine Le Pen said. 'The French people are asking themselves if there is an alternative to the traditional parties. And that is our chance.' The problem for the FN in the wake of the 2002 elections was that, though it had polled more than five million votes, it failed to break into the mainstream. With no MPs or even mayors, it has no formal presence in the French political system.

'They saw that they were stuck on around 20 per cent of the vote,' said Jean-Yves Camus, author of Extremism in France. 'From then on, they knew that they needed to find new themes and an image that would allow them to reach out to new voters.'

... A key test will be the success or failure of Le Pen to gather the 500 mayoral signatures he needs to stand in a presidential election. At the moment, the FN is struggling to secure firm promises from mayors not yet convinced that the new image of the party will protect them from a grassroots backlash.

Marine Le Pen blames the 'manipulation' of the process by the political establishment. This is another example of France's 'dysfunctional democracy,' she says.

How hard is this? Press reports refer to the signatures of "500 mayors" though the statutory eligibility specifies "500 elected officials". There are 36,782 communes or incorporated municipalities (there is no unincorporated land in the whole of France) each with its mayor. So signatures from less than 1.4% of the mayoral ranks are enough to become a player eligible for state campaign funds.

LE PEN STRUGGLES TO FIND BACKERS

November 22, 2006 (BBC) - The French far-right leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, says he is having problems gathering enough signatures to stand for the French presidency next April.

... At a press conference, Mr Le Pen was keen to portray himself as the victim of an "oligarch-like conspiracy between the parties in place and the state institutions to stop the candidate of national opposition from being present".

Ah, Mdm. Le Pen has done a very nice job of painting the ordure. As nice as one can.

PFFT (What is this?): Painted poo 3¾ | Rayonnement français 0