Republican Front (Fifth French Republic)

The concept of a “republican front” in the Fifth French Republic means the union of moderate right and left forces (as well as their supporters) during elections of various levels in order to prevent the possible victory of a candidate from the ultra-right National Front party, which is considered by other political movements and parties as a threat to the Republic and its values ^[1] . Ways to implement this principle in practice vary depending on the current electoral system, as well as depending on each specific situation and the alignment of forces in the domestic political arena of France in each specific historical period.

There is still a debate among historians regarding the exact date of the concept of the Republican Front, more often than not the period preceding the formation of the Fifth Republic. Most experts are inclined to believe that for the first time such an electoral strategy was applied during the parliamentary elections of 1956, that is, under the Fourth French Republic, in which the formed center-left coalition sought to prevent the right-wing conservative movement of pujadists from winning, and also sought to achieve a peaceful conclusion Algerian war. Some scholars cite an alliance of republican conservatives and socialists from the time of the beginning of the Third Republic, whose goal was to counter monarchists who sought to destroy the republican system that had not yet been strengthened after the deposition of Napoleon III ^[2] .

According to political scientists Laurent Bouvet and Jerome Grondo, the origins of the republican front should be sought in collective resistance to the fascist ideas of the 30s ^[3] and, in particular, in the activities of the Popular Front won by the left coalition in the 1936 parliamentary elections. At the same time, the French political scientist Damon Mayaffre believes that antifascism, in its most clear manifestation, has never been the pivotal basis of the coalition’s activities, and therefore there is no reason to talk about the existence of a true republican front ^[4] . Of particular interest is the fact that before the Fifth Republic was born, moderate-right and center-right republicans were often considered left-wing themselves as a threat to the republican system and were not included in the so-called republican front - a fate that, for example, befell representatives in the first half of the 1950s Gaullist Association of the French people. The French historian Joel Gombin concluded that in the period between the formation of the Third Republic and the parliamentary elections of 1956, the republican front was an association of exclusively leftist forces (with the exception of the Communist Party of France).

Until the early 1990s, the right and ultra-right had fairly close relations and periodically formed alliances justified by similar alliances between socialists and communists, regarded by the right as the conductors of Soviet influence. However, the gap between the socialists and communists that occurred in the mid-80s, the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the USSR, as well as the fall in popularity of the Socialist Party, convinced the then Prime Minister Jacques Chirac to change his attitude to the National Front and move from the idea of ​​an all-right anti-communist alliance (including the ultra-right) to the idea of ​​protecting the Republic and its values ​​from the National Front, which from the beginning of the 90s was considered by Jacques Chirac as a real threat to the republican system. However, the 1998 regional elections, in which part of the moderate-right deputies agreed to the proposal of representatives of the National Front to conclude an alliance, reaffirmed the existence of an overly serious division between left and right forces, which impedes the conclusion of a real republican alliance against the National Front ^[5] . Only the irreconcilable position of French President Jacques Chirac allowed to prevent the rapprochement of right and ultra-right forces and the conclusion of an alliance between them ^[6] .

The most famous case of using the Republican front strategy is the 2nd round of the 2002 presidential election, before which most of the political parties in France - primarily the socialists - called on their voters to vote for Jacques Chirac, a moderate right candidate, in order to prevent the victory of the National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, which led to a crushing defeat of the latter ^[7] .

In 2011, the Republican right-wing party Union for the Popular Movement (the forerunner of the Republican Party) adopted an official doctrine based on equidistance from the National Front and the Socialist Party ^[8] . Partly because of this, the National Front managed to achieve serious success in the framework of the 2012 parliamentary elections, while the Republican front, assembled primarily from the left forces, was unable to prevent the strengthening of the ultra-right against the background of a general decline in the turnout ^[9] . In the 2014 municipal elections, the same picture was observed: the Union for the Popular Movement remained faithful to its doctrine of equidistance and neutrality, and the instructions to vote against ultra-right candidates were far from fulfilled in all cases, as a result of which many experts concluded that the principle of the republican front ceased to exist ^{[10 ]} .

In the 2017 presidential election, only two out of nine candidates who left in the 1st round, namely, Socialist candidate Benoit Amon and Republican Francois Fillon, openly called on their supporters to vote for Emmanuel Macron in the 2nd round in order to prevent Marine Le Pen from winning ^{[11 ]} , and the turnout was only 75% - a record low figure, which also cast doubt on the possibility of mobilizing the republican front among the population in modern conditions, in which the National Front and its ideas are presented more its ordinary, and the number of citizens who do not want to participate in the political life of the country is growing ^[12] .

On the one hand, calls to unite in the republican front several times during the 21st century (especially in its first decade) made it possible to avoid the election of candidates from the National Front, the most vivid example of which is the second round of the 2002 presidential election.

However, today the effectiveness and legitimacy of the concept of the republican front is constantly being called into question, especially in light of the recent electoral successes of the National Front and the general growth of popularity of the far-right party. Many experts agreed that the Republican Front after the adoption by the Republican Party (the former Union for the Popular Movement) in 2011 of the official “neither, nor” doctrine, based on opposing itself to both the Popular Front and the Socialist Party, is no longer viable. Joel Gombin believes that the concept of the republican front does not carry any scientific and analytical value, because clearly defined and unbreakable republican values, the protection of which the republican front advocates refer to, in principle do not exist, and we are only talking about a specific set of positions that meet the interests of politicians and political associations resorting to the idea of ​​a republican front. Gomben also points out that the republican front does not allow a clear distinction between supporters of ultra-right and republican views, but rather leads to a coalescence of the right and ultra-right electorates, while negatively affecting the support of left forces. ^[1] . Many experts also deny the very existence of the republican regime, the safety of which should be ensured by the republican front ^[13] . Moreover, according to Joel Gombin, nothing allows us to conclude with certainty that this principle has been successfully applied as part of the strategy to confront the National Front, since the instructions to vote against an ultra-right candidate - a technique often used in the framework of the principle of republican unity - are rarely carried out by those of voters who are initially skeptical of France’s politics and political life in particular.

Philip Blanchet, criticizing this phenomenon, indicates that when the phrase “republican front” is used, the concept of a republic is perverted, and he concludes that the name “humanist front” reflected more clearly the rejection of the National Front’s program, which, in his opinion, , for infringement of the rights of certain sections of society ^[14] . Jerome Grondo adds that the political structure of the Fifth Republic, as well as the majority system used in the framework of parliamentary elections, makes the gap between left and right parties too serious, as a result of which even moderate representatives of left and right forces - despite extremely close positions with respect to each other friend - forced to remain faithful to their political movements. In addition, the political scientist also declares that the Republican front is characterized by the same weaknesses that were observed in the anti-fascist movement at a certain period of time, namely, the inability to develop into a truly global movement and a comprehensive political project for at least a more or less long period, in other words, the momentary, transient and frankly opportunistic nature of this kind of association, not able to produce any structural consequences ^[15] .

Xavier Landes, a political scientist and philosopher, even points out the anti-democratic nature of the Republican front, noting that this strategy is often used as a last resort to elect a moderate candidate, which, in turn, does not lead to the formation of widespread popular support for this candidate, while his victory can be perceived solely as a necessary sacrifice ^[16] . The French political scientist Nicolas Lebourg, in turn, draws attention to the need for a radical change in the purpose of applying the republican front, and more precisely, to the need to shift the focus of attention from a particular party and politicians to certain political ideas, namely, ultra-right ideas that have been actively adopted recently other parties, borrowing them from the National Front. Even the crisis of the National Front cannot, in his opinion, prevent the radicalization of political discourse in the country due to the spread of ideas originally promoted only by the National Front ^[17] .

Many experts believe that the republican front can indirectly affect the state of French political life, allowing, among other things, the national front to portray itself as the only alternative to modern political elites, while emphasizing its uniqueness. This, in turn, leads to the legitimization of the vision of the French political spectrum promoted by the National Front as divided between “patriots” and “globalists”, and also gives weight to the theories of the far right, according to which there is no fundamental difference between Republicans and socialists ^{[18 ]} . In addition, the Republican front can provoke a response in the form of increased activity and solidarity of the most loyal followers of the far-right party, while at the same time strengthening the position of supporters of conspiracy theories against the Popular Front, theories that, according to political analyst Olivier Rucin, are an integral part of far-right French political thought ^[19] .

In a 2015 sci-fi novel by Michelle Welbeck, a candidate from a fictitious Muslim Brotherhood political party, Mohammed Ben Abbes, defeats National Front leader Marine Le Pen in the 2nd round of the presidential election in 2022 thanks to an expanded Republican front, which also joined French New Right, committed to the ideas of identity.

1. Joël Gombin, “Mythologie du front républicain”, Le Monde diplomatique, March 2015, p. 7

2. Philippe Blanchet, Les mots piégés de la politique, Textuel, coll. Petite Encyclopédie Critique, 2017, 113 p.