French face election in which center has ‘imploded,’ energizing the far right

France faces a stark choice in its upcoming elections. In the most recent opinion polls, the far right held a commanding lead, followed by a leftist coalition. Marcon's centerist alliance trails in third place.

SOURCE-SEINE, France — The mighty river that runs through Paris starts as a trickle in the quiet woods of this tiny village of stone houses, three roads, a single steepled church and just 72 voters.

Source-Seine, in the vine-striped hills of Burgundy, is mostly farming country. French farmers traditionally vote right, not extreme right. But as the mood of the nation lurches away from the center, so, too, might Source-Seine.

Sophie Louet, mayor of Source-Seine, says candidates representing centrists in the mold of President Emmanuel Macron are nowhere to be seen in the hamlet — an extreme example of a trend occurring throughout the country, the world’s seventh-largest economy.

“Far right, far left … and between them nothing,” she said, speaking of the four candidates on the ballot for the region in the first round of elections, which are being held Sunday. “It’s very destabilizing. In the last legislative elections, there were 30 candidates of all stripes.”

France faces a stark choice in its upcoming election, with a leading pollster showing the far-right National Rally ahead with 36% of the vote, followed by the leftist New Popular Front coalition at 29%. Macron’s coalition trails at third with 19.5%, according to Ipsos. The surge in the right and the collapse of the center is sending shock waves across France, with some analysts warning that the deep disillusionment underpinning those numbers goes beyond France.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/france-elections-far-right-lead-le-pen-macron-rcna159212

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