This is Why Le Pen Should Celebrate Her Defeat

Marine Le Pen lost to Emmanuel Macron in the second round of the French presidential election on Sunday. However, according to political observer Victor Marachovsky, Le Pen will further have significant influence on French politics even after her defeat.

In his article for RIA Novosti, Marachovsky argued that many media outlets and politicians would interpret Le Pen's defeat as a great victory of the so-called European values over Euroskepticism and the nationalist populism.

However, according to him, "this propaganda picture" is very far from reality as in fact France is not witnessing a defeat of anti-globalization forces, but on the contrary — their ongoing rise.

"Western European anti-globalization nationalism escaped political ghetto, where it had been staying for several decades, and stopped being an existential and unconditional evil for the masses," Marachovsky wrote.

At the same time, Macron's victory will lead to a situation where representatives of the French political establishment will continue the same course that has led to the current crisis of the two ruling parties, the journalist argued.

Earlier in the day, the vice president of Le Pen's National Front, Florian Philippot, said Marine Le Pen would remain an "indisputable" leader of the National Front (FN) party. Moreover, he noted that his party would maintain its status of "the only opposition force" in France.

Marachovsky agreed with this point of view saying that Le Pen's defeat is nothing else but another small victory for her party.

"The difference in the positions of the National Front (FN) and any "establishment party," is that for the FN the current defeat is just another small victory. No one from the Le Pen family had managed ever before to achieve such results in the national election, which means that the popularity of the National Front is still growing," the journalist noted.

In 2002, Jean-Marie Le Pen, the FN founder and father of Marine Le Pen, lost to Jacques Chirac in the presidential runoff with 17.8 percent of the votes. Now, Marine Le Pen lost with 33.9 percent of the votes, the largest result a candidate from the National Front has ever had.

According to Marachovsky, the party will remain a strong alternative to traditional French parties and has every change to succeed in the 2022 election.

"There are reasons to believe that in five years Le Pen — perhaps this one, or even ‘the third Le Pen,' Marion Mareshal-Le Pen, who in 2022 will turn 32 — could again go into the second round against Macron who at that time might lose all his novelty," the journalist said. "Therefore, it is too early to talk about the suppression of the rebellion of Europeans against the European bureaucracy," he concluded.