Abstract
This article proposes a two-level analysis of the Front National (FN) in the 2017 French presidential and parliamentary elections. The first level focuses on the electoral performances of Marine Le Pen and the FN and analyses both elections in terms of gains and losses at the polls. The second level considers FN policy and argues that the party went into these elections with a programme targeting both left- and right-leaning voters, attempting a policy synthesis that partly fitted and partly subverted Kirchheimer’s paradigm of the ‘catch-all’ party. Both levels of analysis link to a number of strategic considerations prompting debate within the party over the direction to take in order to improve its future electoral prospects.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 538-557 |
| Journal | Parliamentary Affairs |
| Volume | 71 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 7 Nov 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright: The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Hansard Society; all rights reserved. This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Parliamentary Affairs following peer review. The version of record [insert complete citation information here] is available online at: http://academic.oup.com/pa/article/doi/10.1093/pa/gsx041/4600587.Funding: Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship.