Mouvement national republicain

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Mouvement national républicain (MNR, National Republican Movement ) is a right-wing extremist political party in France . The party was founded on January 24, 1999 by Bruno Mégret and is a split from the Front National (FN). In 2000 the party had fewer than 5,000 members.

history

In the Front National between December 1998 and January 1999 the question of further strategic direction broke, as a result of which the Secretary General Mégret left the FN. Mégret wanted to expand the FN along the lines of the Italian Movimento Sociale Italiano and enter into alliances with other French, right-wing extremist groups. Le Pen, however, wanted to weaken these groups in order to be able to take over their electorate. Personal differences between Mégret and Le Pen over Le Pen's physical attack on socialist Annette Peulvast-Bergeal were also decisive.

Mégret then founded the Mouvement national in January 1999 , from which the MNR emerged. With Mégret, the majority of the management cadre and many regional councils left the FN. The influence of the MNR has remained very small. It cannot build on the successes of the Front National. While Le Pen made it into the runoff election in the 2002 presidential election, the MNR and its top candidate Mégret only got 2.3% of the vote.

In addition to minor electoral successes, the MNR has to contend with a large mountain of debt. The state reimbursement of electoral costs of 41 million francs for the 1998 regional elections were awarded to the FN despite the split in court. The MNR had to pay the costs for the failed presidential election in 2002 itself, as reimbursement of costs only applies if the votes received are 5% or more. The MNR also has to accept losses among its members: many former FN politicians who had meanwhile joined the MNR left it again. By 2004, 140 regional councils had left the party.

In the 2007 elections, the MNR did not run in the presidential election. In the elections to the National Assembly, the party only achieved 0.3% of the vote. On May 20, 2008, Mégret withdrew from politics after being convicted of embezzling taxpayers' money.

Political program

The MNR sees itself as a representative of classical liberalism , conservatism and nationalism . He favors a free market economy , advocates limiting immigration in general and, in particular, the consistent fight against illegal and Muslim immigration, and the reintroduction of the death penalty . Election slogans included no to Islamization ! . In 2005 the party campaigned against the then planned European Constitution and called for France's "national sovereignty" vis-à-vis the European Union to be strengthened. In 2000, the MNR successfully sued the film Baise-moi (Fuck me!) , Which from then on is classified as X and can only be shown in special cinemas, which is close to a factual ban.

While the MNR used to present itself as a moderate, right-wing conservative alternative to the FN, since the change in leadership in both parties (from Jean-Marie to Marine Le Pen and from Bruno Mégret to Annick Martin), a reversal of positions can be observed: While Marine Le Pen distanced from positions of her father, which she perceived as too radical or anti-Semitic , strives for an opening of the party and defines the fight against “Islamization” as the main theme, the MNR seeks cooperation with parties that are close to ideas of Catholic traditionalism or neo-fascist ideas as well as the identity movement in the Nouvelle droite populaire movement by Carl Lang .

Election results

  • European elections 1999 : Bruno Mégret's list received 578 774 votes (3.28%), but missed a seat in the European Parliament .
  • Presidential election 2002: Bruno Mégret received 2.33% of the votes cast.
  • Parliamentary elections 2002: The MNR receives a total of 280 131 votes, but does not make it into the French National Assembly .
  • Regional elections 2004: The MNR ran in 13 out of 22 French regions . Alain Vauzelle achieved the highest election result in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region with 2.95%. On a national average, the MNR comes to 1.44%.
  • European elections 2004 : The MNR achieved a national election result of 0.31% of the vote.
  • Parliamentary elections 2007: The MNR received 102,100 votes, which corresponds to a share of the vote of 0.39%.

literature

  • Jean-Yves Camus: The Front National: On the topicality and future of the right-wing extremist party . In: Rudolf von Thadden , Anna Hofmann (Ed.): Populism in Europe - Crisis of Democracy? Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89244-944-9 .

Web links