New Fire on the Far Right

By William R. Doerner

He was mentioned neither by name nor by party. But when Premier Jacques Chirac last week denounced the "demagogy of a certain political discourse" that has been loosed of late on France, none of the 70,000 people attending the biennial convention of Chirac's Rally for the Republic Party had the slightest doubt as to the object of his scorn. The Premier could only be referring to Jean-Marie le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front Party, who has suddenly become a serious, if not quite respectable, player on the French political scene. Long dismissed as part buffoon and total extremist, Le Pen has emerged as a potential wild card in next year's presidential election.

Le Pen, 59, has collected a following mainly because of his virulently anti-immigrant views, which are directed mostly against the 1.5 million North Africans and blacks who now reside in France. He blames them for a host of social ills, ranging from crime to unemployment. Le Pen has claimed that 80% of all foreigners living in France are illegal aliens and should be deported. Though Le Pen says he is not a racist, his critics contend that he not only arouses racial passions but also preaches a political philosophy bordering on fascism. Recently he has suggested the forced quarantine of AIDS victims in sanatoriums, an idea that for many Frenchmen calls up visions of concentration camps.

First elected to the National Assembly in 1956, ex-Paratrooper Le Pen has seldom been far from controversy. He has sued a French magazine for libel over a series of 1984 articles that purportedly documented his use of torture during the Algerian war. The trial judge found Le Pen had so openly approved of using torture over the years that he could not claim to have been defamed by accusations that he practiced it. That opinion was reversed, but the case is still on appeal. In 1976 Le Pen inherited $6 million from an unrelated and mentally unstable political disciple.

French President Francois Mitterrand, eager to increase the political power of his Socialists, pushed through a new electoral law in 1985 that changed the voting system from single-member districts to proportional representation. This inadvertently elevated the National Front to new prominence. The party, which would probably not have won any seats under the old system, got 33 in the expanded 577-member National Assembly under the new law. That gave Le Pen a podium from which to promote his views. Recent polls indicate that the National Front leader, who declared his candidacy for President in April, may draw as much as 12% of the vote.

Chirac and former Premier Raymond Barre, who are running virtually in a dead heat among conservative candidates for President, face the exquisite dilemma of how to respond to this challenge from the far right: Should they continue treating Le Pen as a pariah or begin searching for possible political accommodations? Chirac, despite his criticism of Le Pen last week, recently reprimanded Foreign Trade Minister Michel Noir for a passionate appeal to Rally for the Republic leaders not to "sacrifice our soul" by dealing with the National Front. Barre is also avoiding confrontations with Le Pen.

For his part, Le Pen clearly enjoys his new notoriety, well aware that all the negative publicity helps fire up his supporters. No one seriously expects Le Pen to occupy the presidential palace next year, but he could help determine who does.

With reporting by William Dowell/Paris