Following the presidential elections, what are the dominant poles on the French political scene?

The first round of the French presidential elections revealed the division of the political scene in this country into three blocs: the center, the extreme right and the radical left, while the two historical parties of the right and socialist became electorally and financially marginalized.

After decades of alternating power between socialists and the Gaullist right, the assumption of power by centrist Emmanuel Macron in 2017 has widened the polarization of the political scene to its limits.

"The first round of the French presidential elections confirms the division of the electorate into three groups, with three parallel poles forming roughly their relative size," says political scientist Gael Prostier in an editorial in Slate, speaking of "the pillars of the new French political landscape."

Crush the two traditional parties

In this context, the two largest French parties that have dominated the political scene with a majority in the Fifth Republic since 1958, namely the Socialist Party and the (right-wing Gaullist) Republican Party, have become crushed.

Political scientist Jerome Fourquet says via "France Inter" that "in 2017, the process of dismantling / reshaping French political life began with the emergence of Macron and the collapse of socialism. Yesterday we witnessed the second season of this series... with the fragmentation of the Socialist Party and the dissolution of the Republican Party, which is forming The second historical pillar of French political life.

"What is the reason for the existence of the Socialist Party? What is the reason for the existence of the Republican Party? It is difficult to answer this question in a political system based on a radical left and a centrist bloc that extends from the left center to the right and a right-wing extremist bloc.

In addition to the political setback, these two parties, which drove politics in France until about 2015, face stifling financial problems. The French state will pay only a small part of their electoral expenses, given that they obtained less than 5% of the vote in the first round.

"Elite bloc"

However, reducing the French political scene to three different sociological blocs is not accurate.

Political scientist Jerome Saint-Marie of Bowlingvox refutes the "three blocks of left, center and right". Rather, he sees a confrontation between an "elite bloc" of the affluent groups mobilizing behind Macron and a double "populist bloc".

He says that "the sociological voting equations still exist and have even intensified. The higher classes have united around Macron in the context of what I call the elite bloc composed of cadres and retirees."

On the other hand, "the populist bloc manifests itself in two forms and is more diverse with popular groups. from the private sector supporting Le Pen, while Jean-Luc Melenchon mobilizes around him public sector employees and groups descended from immigration."