French woes

Can you imagine if the British National Party held the balance of power in a British election? It would be a very worrying state of affairs but this is what has happened in France. The far-right nationalist party of Marine Le Pen came third in the first round of the French Presidential election on Sunday. She and her party were eliminated from the race but French President Nicholas Sarkozy is actively courting their vote as he goes into the next round against socialist Francois Hollande, who won the first round on Sunday. An incredible state of affairs. It is quite amazing that in the year 2012 a major European country like France still has a far-right party which continues to attract millions of votes. Can you imagine the outcry in Britain (and quite rightly so) if Prime Minister David Cameron said that he was trying to recruit BNP voters. But France is different so it seems. At the moment it looks like Hollande is on course for victory in the French elections. Sarkozy is deeply unpopular and only managed to come second on Sunday. He should not try and attract the far right vote. As far as I am concerned they don´t deserve the vote in the first place. The fact that a party with an outrageous manifesto came third in the French election is a sure sign that the mainstream parties are not connecting with the electorate. Immigration was a key issue and perhaps it is time that the French government tackled this issue once and for all.