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Why are so many people in Alsace voting for the Front National?
A square in the Alsatian town of Kaysersberg. Nono vlf/Wikimedia. CC.
Once upon a time there was a land between the Vosges Mountains and the Rhine. It is said that to the victor belong the spoils, and for centuries this region changed hands between French and German rulers, depending on who had won the most recent war.
Though historically its inhabitants speak German, it is culturally neither entirely German, nor French. Its most famous son, Nobel laureate Albert Schweitzer, is known all over the world for his humanitarian work and philosophy of reverence for life. This land has also become a popular attraction amongst tourists, who marvel at the Strasbourg cathedral and enjoy the local Flammekueche and Riesling wine.
Yet you may struggle to find this region on recent maps of France. In 2014, the French government merged Alsace into a megaregion almost twice the size of Belgium, effectively depriving it of a legal and institutional existence. This move was almost unanimously opposed by Alsatian civil society and was met with large scale protests throughout the region. Many saw the loss of their regional council as a threat to their regional identity, economy and local democracy.
The opposition movement to the megaregion, now known as the Grand Est (Great East), has caused a revival of the Alsatian identity and made the Alsatian autonomist party the third political force in Alsace, ahead of president Hollande's Parti Socialiste.
At the same time, in the most recent regional elections, the far right Front National scored above 30% in both Alsatian départements. How can a French nationalist party attain these electoral heights in a region with such a strong bicultural identity? Will the Alsatian movement be able to form a viable alternative?
In line with its long Christian democratic traditions, Alsace has since the end of the Second World War consistently and overwhelmingly voted for the centre-right. Les Republicains are the dominant party in Alsace and control most local assemblies. The centre left Parti Socialiste has historically been rather unpopular in Alsace, with the notable exception of Strasbourg, the only big city with a socialist mayor.
Despite the high scores of the Front National in Alsace,...