Fillon To Face Le Pen In Upcoming French Presidential Election

As expected, Francois Fillon won the runoff election in France to become the candidate of the center-right in the presidential elections next year. Fillon’s main opposition in that election will come from Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far right, xenophobic National Front party. Fillon will run a campaign that mirrors the National Front on the issues of immigration and Islam but also promises to cut half a million public sector jobs and cut the budget by over $100 billion. In addition, he wants to get rid of the 35 hour work week, raise the retirement age, and cut taxes on businesses and the rich. He is also, like Trump, an admirer of Putin and promises an alliance with Russia to crush radical Islam. Le Pen, on the other hand, has promised to safeguard France’s robust safety net and protect government spending. Nothing in Fillon’s economic proposals actually addresses job creation or any kind of investment in the future, both of which France desperately needs. The usual advocates of that kind of economic view would be the Socialists but Francois Hollande has seemingly permanently damaged the brand. It seems inevitable that the Socialists will have to throw him overboard, perhaps for Manuel Valls or even bring back Segolene Royal. But no one believes the Socialists will survive the initial round of voting. Right now, polls show a tight race between Fillon and Le Pen. But with Le Pen able to almost run from the left on the economy while at the same time having no space between herself and Fillon on the policy issues that brought the National Front to prominence, immigration and Islam, it is not difficult to foresee a Le Pen victory. In many ways, she will be running a similar campaign as Trump, espousing xenophobia while promising to protect French workers. It has already been shown to be a winning formula.