Why Some Minorities in France Voted for the Far-Right, Anti Immigraiton Political Party, Front National

“The right and the left broke everything!” Front National 2007 election campaign poster
trying to appeal to minority voters. Public domain.

By Abdoulaye Bah, Translated by Lucia Wheller
When France's Eurosceptic right-wing Front National (FN) party topped the country's polls in last month's European elections, it had its hardline immigration stance to thank. A whopping 91 percent of people who voted for Marine Le Pen-led FN said immigration was the most decisive factor, according to an opinion poll carried out by the French Institute of Public Opinion.

It may come as a surprise then, that some of their 25 percent of votes came from minorities, the very target of some of their proposed policies.

France prohibits any public statistics based on race or ethnicity, so a definite report on voting according to ethnicity isn't available. But for instance, in the French West Indies where the majority of the population is black, the Front National came third in Guadeloupe and second in Saint-Martin/Saint-Bathélemy. In Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, they came fourth. 

Many members of minorities voted for a party whose founder, Jean-
Marie Le Pen, suggested the ebola virus was the 'final solution' to over
population and migrants. Did They Know? (Photo by Blandine Le Cain)

Christophe, who lives in Poitiers, France, wrote in Le Plus Nouvel Obs blog that he used to vote for the left-wing party, but voted for the FN this time around:

About 10 years ago I went through a period when I just rejected everything to do with politics. I did not vote because I did not see the use of it anymore. I no longer trusted any politicians or their actions. With Marine Le Pen, I started to believe again [..] I'm fed up of FN voters being pegged as fascist or racist [..] I'm not racist, I am a nationalist.

The rise of the FN seems to stem from continued disenchantment with the declining economic status of France and the increasingly precarious situation of its lower class. An interactive infographic via Le Nouvel Observateur on the results of the 2014 European elections in France shows that FN came out on top for people earning less than 3,000 euros (about 4,500 US dollars) per month.
On seneweb.com, “Diop” expressed gratitude for the opportunities given to his father in France and warned about the country's economy:

My father first arrived from Senegal without a franc in his pocket. As the euro didn't exist in those days, the currency was the French franc and there was work, he was able to make a life for himself, buy a house and prices were much lower. The shit we're in right now is Europe's fault. France was one of the top three global powers for 600 years until they joined the European Union and adopted the euro. Today we've been relegated to fifth place and according to predictions we'll be eighth in 50 years time. We have to know when to say “stop” while we still can.

Nadir, who was born outside France, added in the Observatory of the Extremes in the Europe blog that he voted for the Front National because he felt they were more “real” :

The FN is made up of people like us. They are close to us. They understand us. They have not attended elite universities.

‘Why are they voting against themselves?’
This isn't the first time the FN has drawn votes from people of migrant origins. In this article taken from Egalité et reconciliation (Equality and reconciliation, via the Swiss newspaper Le Matin), a group of girlfriends of North African origin explain why they became members of FN in 2011 prior to the 2012 presidential elections. Zoubida, about 50, wears a veil; she and Kheira share the same outlook on FN:

They've had enough of this type of immigration which, according to them, “capitalises” on state benefits and which applies the following modus operandi: “women have babies, the streets bring up the children and state benefits bring in the paycheck.”

Zoubida, a nursery assistant, earns 1,500 euros per month. Her rent has increased to 505 euros although she only pays 200 thanks to housing aid. “I'm fed up of seeing foreigners getting subsidized housing only three or four years after arriving in France,” she protests.

If the FN got its way, the country would have much tougher immigration policies. The blog mediapart.fr summarised the key features of FN's manifesto:

Amongst their most extreme measures, they want to review the right to asylum, put a stop to free movement within the European Union, ban the regularisation of illegal immigrants, deport them “systematically” and stop “their demonstrations or demonstrations in support of them”. They also want to restore a double penalty system for immigrants, stop their state medical assistance, reduce the duration of residency permits, reverse jus soli laws and reform the Nationality Act. Furthermore, anti-French racism as the motivation of a crime would be considered an aggravating circumstance and therefore the crime would carry a higher sentence. The FN would also like to make development aid to North Africa conditional on reducing or putting a cap on immigration to France. According to an IFOP opinion poll for the French media, 80-82% of FN voters justified their choice based on their feelings towards immigration.

What explanation is behind these unlikely voters? Writer Maloud Akkouche explains this phenomenon on the blog blogs.rue89.nouvelobs.com by suggesting that voting for a party like the FN lets people feel like they are rejecting their association with undesirable populations, which in the minds of many French people fit the classic profile of Arab, African or Muslim immigrants:

Citizens of migrant origin are just as prone to radicalism as certain ‘born and bred French people'. More and more North and Sub-Saharan Africans are voting for the FN. So why are they voting against themselves?

Perhaps because their reflection in the mirror resembles those shady characters responsible for the decay of low-income suburbs, or the profile of certain bearded fundamentalists who gnaw away at French secularism; a kind of secularism that the French will never give up. It's not easy to shave or put makeup on every morning when your face is the constant victim of negative finger-pointing.

How can they escape this sense of blame? By proving that despite their physical appearance, they don't burn cars, deal drugs, stone women, strap bombs to themselves or piss in the lift… In other words, they don't bother their neighbours; a daily struggle which exhausts even the most well-educated people. 

There are other reasons for voting for the FN, particularly for voters originating from countries where homosexuality is punishable by death. Ousmane was persuaded to vote for the FN during the 2014 European elections to express his rejection of homosexuality and globalisation. He claimed that:

I voted for Marine! Congratulations! All these pro-Europe, pro-gay lobbyists and internationalists lost big time!

Commenting on a post on Alexandre Thomas blog dealing with why sons and daughters of immigrants would vote for the FN, Narcisse, who was born in Senegal, wrote:

Whatever the reasons for their votes were, the key is most importantly to make second-generation immigrants aware that the FN does not want them in France and by voting for them, they're giving power to those who have built their reputation on rejecting difference.

Pape Diouf was born in Chad, grew up in Dakar in Senegal, and has lived in the southern French city of Marseille since he was 18. He was the president of a first division football club and was in charge of the club of his adoptive city for many years. He explains why he can understand the voting decision of members of the African diaspora and Arab and Muslim communities during the municipal elections in Marseille in March 2014 (in which he was a candidate). He proposed a solution:

During my visits to the community, I found admirable people who voluntarily take care of young people and women who have been cut off. Without these volunteers, discontent in society would reach its limit. For them, party politics is the cause and reason for their radical support for FN. Paradoxically, many FN voters are of North- or Sub-Saharan African descent; a desperate act that is difficult to understand. To halt the growing support for FN, my own strategy would be to help people who are struggling to get out of poor housing, provide better education for their children and better training for present and future jobs, establish a real public health service or improve access to public transport, etc.

Reprinted with permission from Global Voices.