Populist / nationalist right surging across Europe | Eastern NC Now

French populist / nationalist right leader Marine LePen has been leading in the polls for France's next presidential election for months, and her National Rally won France's portion of elections to the European parliament..  In Germany, the populist / nationalist right Alternativ fur Deutschland has been gaining in the polls for it's next parliamentary election. They are already the official opposition, being the largest party in the Bundestag that is not in the governing coalition.  In Italy, the polls show a clear lead for an alliance of the populist / nationalist right Lega of Matteo Salvini with two more traditional conservative parties in the expected snap parliamentary election, which would put Salvini in the Prime Minister's office.

 

In recent elections, populist / nationalist right governments of the Law and Justice Party in Poland and Fidesz in Hungary have been re-elected,and populist / nationalist right parties have ousted center-left governments in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.  Prime Minister Babis of the Czech Republic has been dubbed "the Czech Trump".  In Austria, the traditional conservative Peoples Party under the world's youngest Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz has adopted the populist / nationalist right agenda of national sovereignty and staunch opposition to illegal immigration and won re-election with an increase in seats in parliament.

 

Last month's parliamentary election in Romania also brought the populist / nationalist right to the fore.  The fact that the leftist Social Democrats, who won the last election by a wide margin, would take heavy losses was expected, as was that traditional center-right parties led by the National Liberals would win a majority, which they did, in coalition with a generally conservative party representing ethnic Hungarians.  What was not expected was that two center-left parties would get booted out of parliament altogether or that a brand new populist / nationalist right party AUR (Alliance for the Unity of Romanians) would sweep into parliament for the first time with 33 of its 330 seats. In addition to strong support for national sovereignty and opposition to illegal immigration, AUR campaigned against special rights for homosexuals and against Covid lockdowns and mask requirements.