Across the European continent, the trend is clear: populist parties are attracting more and more voters. Almost a third of Europeans vote for so-called anti-establishment, extreme right or extreme left parties, reveals The Guardian.
In last year’s elections, a record was reached: in 31 countries, 32% of voters voted for anti-establishment parties, according to a study led by Matthijs Rooduijn, a political scientist at the University of Amsterdam for the British media. They were 20% in the early 2000s and 12% in the early 1990s. A figure that continues to rise as these parties expand their base.
“Far-right parties, in particular, (…) form coalitions of voters with very different concerns,” notes Daphne Halikiopoulou, a comparative political scientist at the University of York for The Guardian.
“People who never voted far right and did not expect to do so are now voting far right: older women, urban voters, the educated middle class,” he describes, adding that they are often hoping for economic stability.
Greater tolerance between the population and the elites.
Although for its detractors, populism is a danger to democracies, the judicial system, freedom of the press or even the rights of minorities, anti-system parties are increasingly tolerated among the population as a whole.
“What has developed is an electorate that tolerates them,” says Cas Mudde, a professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia.
“Those who would not vote for Le Pen in the first round of the French presidential elections, but would vote for Le Pen in the second. This group has grown a lot.”
There has also been a shift on the part of the elites: “The dynamics of political competition are changing,” says Daphne Halikiopoulou. “Just a few years ago, for example, no traditional party would have dreamed of playing with the Sweden Democrats.”
In fact, in several countries, such as Sweden, Finland and Latvia, government coalitions have been formed between populist parties and right-wing parties.
Centrist parties are becoming radicalized
The mantra of the 234 identified anti-system parties, of which 61 classified on the extreme left and 112 on the extreme right? Favor the common citizen and not the so-called “corrupt” elites. This is attractive because other centrist parties have gradually distanced themselves from society’s demands and are not “responsive to people’s concerns,” according to Andrea Pirro, co-author of the study and a political scientist at the University of Bologna in Italy.
The examples are legion: Viktor Orbán in Hungary, the Law and Justice party in Poland, Fratelli d’Italia with Giorgia Meloni in Italy, Vox in Spain.
In Austria, one year before the elections, the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) is well ahead in the polls, the German AfD has doubled its vote potential and is now in second position. In France, almost one in two people believe that National Rally’s Marine Le Pen has the necessary qualities to be president, according to an Elabe poll conducted for BFMTV.
Another observation: in Europe, traditional center-right parties are becoming radicalized and venturing into issues that until now have been the exclusive domain of populist parties, such as immigration. The border is increasingly closed.
Source: BFM TV
