Crushing defeat for the Right in the Netherlands - a sign for the French elections?

Xenophobe Wilders likely to not even come out in second, Macron gaining strongly on nationalistic populist Le Pen, AfD collapsing to below 10% in German polls - is the Right defeated already? Is that all they had?

Wilders was 2nd, with 20 seats this year, as opposed to 15 last year... hardly a crushing defeat by any means, except compared to the ridiculous fearmongering of the English media.

Xenophobe Wilders likely to not even come out in second, Macron gaining strongly on nationalistic populist Le Pen, AfD collapsing to below 10% in German polls - is the Right defeated already? Is that all they had?

Wilders had no chance in the Dutch elections; even had he topped the polls, he was never going to be able to form a government. The only real danger comes from the elections in France.

You're saying 'is that all they had?' as if Brexit and Trump are no big deal. Even if Le Pen doesn't win, the right have still scored major victories over the left in Western politics.

Also, the VVD and CDA are both centre-right. The three largest parties in the Dutch election are all right wing.

A defeat for Wilders here isn't a win for the left.

That's like saying Nigel Farage losing to the Tories in Thanet was a victory for the left.

You're scrapping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to finding 'wins'.

Euroscepticism is also generally on the rise.

Yet France looks set to elect a staunchly pro EU integrationist. The Eurosceptics had their day in the sun, the tide is turning.

Even if pro-EU parties happen to win this round of elections, if trends in public Euroscepticism continue, I wouldn't be so confident in them winning the following ones.

I think the Eurosceptics' day in the sun is only just dawning.

A defeat for the right? A right-wing party won the election and a far-right party came in second (gaining seats in the process).

The centre of gravity is shifting right all over Europe with each election cycle. Euroscepticism is also generally on the rise.

And to reference your other post, treating the victory of a right-wing party like a victory for the left reeks far more of desperation.

Merkel is actually also rather populist. E.g. phasing out nuclear power, not a smart move, but helped the polls.

Merkel's party (the CDU) is more right-wing than she is, at least when it comes to immigration; especially the Bavarian sister party.

He was never going to win, but the fact that a right wing government is in power, that a far right party ended second, and the left-wing party got destroyed, would indicate that the right is on the rise.

You need a reality-check - so does most of the Left.

I didn't discount those 'victories' (it's really just one, Clinton clearly won the popular vote). It just does seem that is all the Right had.



Off Wikipedia:

'The Christian Democratic Appeal is a Christian democratic party on the centre to centre-right.[...] The CDA favours European economic, cultural, and political integration.'

'The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) is a conservative-liberal party. As a centre-right movement,[...] The party is generally supportive of European economic integration.'

That's miles off what Wilders or your other run-of-the-mill extreme right populists stand for - and these two parties won with a huge majority. Massive win for the Left.




Of course it is.



That is an absolutely correct statement.




Starting to see a trend and getting nervous much, desperately trying to argue against the obvious fact that the Right, after their elected officials failing miserably in the old and new world, is in decline?

A defeat for the right? A right-wing party won the election and a far-right party came in second (gaining seats in the process).

The centre of gravity is shifting right all over Europe with each election cycle. Euroscepticism is also generally on the rise.

And to reference your other post, treating the victory of a right-wing party like a victory for the left reeks far more of desperation.

Popular vote doesn't decide the winner of the US presidential election. So no, Clinton didn't win.

You're discounting Brexit and Trump precisely by saying 'that's all [the right] had'.

What exactly has the left had then? Relying on the centre-right to beat the 'far' right in European elections?

I'm not nervous about anything.

I'm just going to marvel at the fact that you think the centre-right beating the right into second place is a victory for the left.