French elections: The rise of France’s far-right National Rally Party

President Emmanuel Macron called for snap polls in June after the RN trounced his centre-right Renaissance Party in the European Union Parliament elections. Through the polls, Macron hoped to prove that the RN did not enjoy the broad-based public support needed to form the government.

The move had been seen as risky by political commentators, given the real chance of RN coming to power, decades after its formation. Here is its story.

Roots in far-right groups, inspiration from Mussolini

The RN first came up as the Front National or the National Front (FN). Jean-Marine Le Pen, the father of former party president Marine Le Pen, was one of its founders, along with François Duprat and François Brigneau.

Some of its members were from Ordre Nouveau or the New Order (ON), a far-right neo-fascist movement. It was modelled on the Italian Social Movement Party, which was in turn led by supporters of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

The FN sought to unite multiple factions of France’s far-right. Le Pen was chosen as its leader for his relatively moderate image in the far-right collective. The party took a hardline stance at the outset, with opposition to Arab immigrants from former French colonies in North Africa. It was also opposed to European integration and institutions like the EU.

After remaining on the fringes of the political scene, the party won some local elections in the 80s and 10 seats in the 1984 European Parliament elections.

In the 1986 Legislative Assembly elections, it secured 10% of the vote and 35 seats in the National Assembly. The party’s rise continued into the 1990s, with Le Pen securing over 15% of the vote in the 1995 presidential elections. It presented itself as an anti-establishment alternative to mainstream French politics.

How Jean-Marie Le Pen shaped its image

From being regarded as a moderate face to being branded as the “Devil of the Republic” by his critics, Jean-Marie Le Pen has had a long journey in French politics.

He was elected the President of the FN at 44. He also served in the Algerian War, fought between 1954 and 1962 for Algerian independence from French rule.

Le Pen became a parliamentary deputy or representative in 1956 and was known for his divisive views, often described as racist and anti-semitic. He once referenced the holocaust as “a detail of history”, which got him in trouble with the law.

In an interview with The New York Times in 2018, at age 90, he said, “The migration phenomenon is a tsunami.” He added that immigrants “are more and more numerous and visible, especially when it’s Africans.”

He led the party for nearly 40 years and ran several times to become President. His biggest success came in 2002 in the first round of the presidential elections, when he won 18% of the vote. However, country-wide demonstrations against him and the endorsement of all political parties for then-President Jacques Chirac stopped his advancement.

The makeover under Marine Le Pen

Marine Le Pen is her father’s youngest daughter. Trained in criminal law, she first joined the FN’s administration in 1998. She became the FN President in 2011 and contested the French Presidential elections in 2017 and 2022.

As she ascended the ranks, she distanced herself from her father’s views and made efforts to make the party’s positions more palatable. The party’s Euroskepticism was now described as French nationalism, with the party’s traditional doctrine, “France for the French”, being pushed of late as a patriotic, nation-first slogan.

She has maintained the party’s anti-immigration stance, while vocally opposing anti-Semitism.

In the 2012 presidential elections, she finished third and secured more than 18% of the vote, the highest-ever showing by FN. Things came to a head in 2015, when Jean-Marie Le Pen emphasised his Holocaust denial amidst a public row with his daughter, resulting in his expulsion from the party.

Marine Le Pen’s efforts paid off as she capitalised on the anti-immigration and anti-Islamic sentiment following the terror attacks in Paris in November 2015. In 2017, she finished second to the pro-Europe Emmanuel Macron in the presidential elections.

In 2018, Le Pen announced the FN would change its name to Rassemblement National or the National Rally (RN), in a bid to distance itself from its origins. A year later, the party won the biggest vote share in the EU parliamentary elections, indicating its presence as a mainstay of French politics.

The most decisive showing for the party yet would be the 2022 Presidential polls — Marine lost to Macron but won over 40% of the vote. She stepped down as party president later that year.

Le Pen also supported Brexit in 2016 and allied herself with Donald Trump when he won the US presidential campaign.

What do the French elections’ results matter?

The RN promised to raise consumer spending power, lower immigration significantly, and take a tougher stance on EU rules if it won. While it hasn’t, the fact that Macron’s party did not win means a changed political equation in the county. A “cohabitation” government would follow, with a new Prime Minister (likely from the leftist alliance) and Macron continuing as President. This would involve constant negotiations on policies and legislation.