Students express dissatisfaction with French presidential candidates

French students at UCLA may live more than 5,000 miles away from their country, but many still find themselves invested in the events of the French presidential election.

The first round of the French presidential election took place April 23. Emmanuel Macron, the centrist independent candidate, received 24 percent of the vote and Marine Le Pen, the National Front party candidate, came second at 21.3 percent.

Many students said they are worried about the rise of Le Pen, who is considered a nationalist and far right candidate.

Constance Morisseau, a first-year pre-business economics student, said she is afraid of what will happen in France if Le Pen becomes president. She added she thinks Le Pen might make changes that would be hard to revoke, such as modifications to the French constitution.

Dominic Thomas, chair of the UCLA Department of French and Francophone Studies, said the National Front’s various political stances include questioning free trade agreements, increasing border control and propagating anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Some students have seen parallels between Le Pen and President Donald Trump because of their similar nationalistic stances.

Alix Le Boterff, a first-year pre-business economics student and French citizen, said she thinks Trump and Le Pen have more of a nationalist than a globalist approach.

She also said though they have similar ideas, she thinks Trump speaks with simpler words while Le Pen’s eloquent speech makes her look more intelligent and able to govern. Le Boterff said even though Le Pen may be good with words, her speech reflects xenophobia.

Le Boterff also said she is concerned about Macron becoming president because his agenda is vague. However, she will vote for him because she thinks he is the better alternative.

Thomas said he thinks Trump’s election may have influenced the French election.

“(Trump’s) nationalist and protectionist policies have afforded a degree of legitimacy to the National Front, a party whose own nationalist agenda and policies long preceded those of Trump’s campaign and presidency,” Thomas said.

Macron and Le Pen disagree on many issues facing France, such as national security, trade and economic integration. For example, Le Pen has expressed a desire to leave the European Union, while Macron has advocated for staying.

Some French students at UCLA said they were worried about Le Pen’s advocacy for leaving the EU, but many agree that there is a need to reform the union.

Morisseau said she agrees some changes should be made in the EU, but still thinks France should stay because the EU is economically powerful and helps maintain peace in Europe.

Le Boterff said she thinks the EU should be reformed because it is inefficient, but noted the benefits of being able to work and study abroad in other countries granted by membership in the EU.

Though many students do not like Le Pen, Thomas said the candidate’s party has been growing in recent years.

Thomas said he thinks high unemployment, weak economic performance, growing national debt and prevalent national security issues have contributed to the growing support for the National Front.

“As a political party, (the National Front has) been around since the early 1970s, but they have deep roots in a much longer history of far right politics in France, (and it is) one anchored in a range of disquieting chapters in French history that should not be forgotten,” Thomas said.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, National Front founder and Marine Le Pen’s father, has said multiple times since 1987 that Nazi gas chambers were a “detail” in history.

Thomas added Le Pen has tried to detach herself from the anti-Semitism her father brought into the party. For example, she expelled him from the National Front in 2015.

While most students oppose Le Pen, they also see some issues with Macron.

Yasmine Bennani, a third-year ethnomusicology French exchange student, said she thinks Macron represents the continuity of the same economic and capitalist system, which many people dislike. Bennani said because she grew up in Morocco where the majority religion is Islam, she feels more concerned about the questions of immigration and religion at the heart of the presidential election.

She said she thinks Le Pen might adopt some measures that would not have allowed her or her family members to be French.

Thomas said he thinks many French voters’ mistrust of Le Pen’s attempts to clean up her party’s image will cause her to lose the presidency.

“(The majority of voters will) stand up for the inherent values of a liberal democracy and, in so doing, expose and reject the National Front’s propensity to exploit prejudice and its concerted efforts at dividing the country,” Thomas said.

The students said they did not vote for Le Pen in the first round and would vote for Macron in the second. The second round of the election will take place Sunday.