CHENNAI: On Sunday, France will be on the business end of a snap election. With the National Rally (RN) gaining in the polls, the far-right party has never been closer to power. In the first round of the elections last week, the RN bloc had 33% of the vote, higher than the two other blocs, the New Popular Front (27.99), and the Ensemble (President Emmanuel Macron & Co.; 20.76%).
According to CNN, projections state that the country is heading towards a hung parliament as RN could fall short of the 289 seats needed. "A total of 76 candidates were elected to France's parliament in the first round of the vote, of which 39 represented RN and its allies," CNN had reported on Monday.
On Friday night, in bordering Germany, 26 men can take a big step forward at the European Championship. Against one of the other favourites in the quarterfinals, Portugal, the side led by Kylian Mbappe & Co. knows they can send a strong statement to the rest of the teams. Win and they will be two matches away from doing the double double of a World Cup-Euros within a six-year period since 1998 (they did the first double in 1998-2008 and won the World Cup again in 2018).
It will be a remarkable legacy for a country that's replaced Brazil in terms of the hotbed for talent. But here's the thing. Football is one of the most political issues in France. It's why several French footballers — including Mbappe, Jules Kounde and Marcus Thuram — have spoken about the rise of the far right and the importance of 'blocking them' from coming to power in this election.
Post France's pre-quarterfinal 1-0 win over Belgium, Kounde, one of the best right-backs so far in the competition, said as much. Reacting to the gains made by the far-right in the first round, he said: "It isn't over yet. It is very important so that the extreme right-wing party... doesn't come in...
"... disappointed to see the direction our country is taking." Before the elections, Mbappe had said: "This is a never-seen-before event," the Madrid-bound attacker reflected a day before the country's opening game of the Euros. "That is why I want to talk to the whole of the French people, but also the youth. We are a generation that can make a difference.
We see the extremes are knocking on the door of power and we have the opportunity to shape our country's future." It was a brave act by one of the world's most foremost footballers to come out in this manner.
When Mbappe was asked about Thuram's opinion of the elections, he was more intimate. "I share the same opinion when I spoke about diversity, tolerance and respect. The game tomorrow (group game against Austria) is very important. I think that I'm well placed to say and I have said it until I'm blue in the face, but there is a situation that is even more important than the game.
Kylian Mbappe is against extreme views and against ideas that divide people. I want to be proud to represent France, I don't want to represent a country that doesn't correspond to my values, or our values."
That, at the heart, is why football and politics is interlinked in France. When they won the World Cup in 1998, the side's pluralism was from and centre, its multiculturalism heralding a new France. Players like Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Lilian Thuram (Marcus' father), Patrick Vieira and Cristian Karembeu were all either born in other parts of the world or were sons of immigrants or were born in overseas territories.
It's why, as the Athletic noted, that all-conquering 1998 team had the slogan 'black, blanc, beur (black, white, Arab'. However, even then, a few politicians were keen to voice their disapproval.
"Jean-Marie Le Pen," the Athletic said last month, "... responded by downplaying this huge national celebration as 'only a detail of history'." Le Pen, in charge of the Front National Party (since known as RN), had run on an anti-immigration platform as early as 2002. Again, there is a very real fear now that if voted to power, anti-immigration will be central to RN's policies.
On Friday night, Mbappe and Co will unite. A day later, they will all be hoping for good news from across the border.