LONDON

- The last French presidential election, in its first round, witnessed a historic and unprecedented defeat for a historical and prestigious party in the country, and it is related to the Socialist Party, whose candidate Anne Hidalgo received only 1.6 percent of the total votes.

This figure indicates the almost extinction of the French Socialist Party, which was only 5 years ago ruling the country during the term of former President François Hollande, a leader in the Socialist Party.

It is not the Socialist Party in France that suffers, but rather the Labor Party, which is described as the representative of the left in Britain, and it also suffered a historic loss in the 2019 elections that made it languish in opposition for nearly 20 years.

These results open more than a question mark about the situation of the left in Europe, and is it on the path of extinction and regression in favor of the extreme right and populist currents?

The British Labor Party suffered a resounding defeat in the 2019 elections (Reuters)

French exception

By passing through the political map of Europe in general, it will appear that the left parties - especially the center-left or the democratic left - perform their role well in many European countries, with the exception of France, in which the Socialist Party achieved a disastrous result, and Britain, where the Labor Party is suffering in an attempt to return To power and lose its historic electoral fortresses, many European governments are run by left-wing parties.

And we will find that the German Social Democratic Party is leading the government coalition, and in the first local test after 100 days of running the country, the party succeeded in winning the Saarland state elections and withdrawing the majority from the Christian Democratic Party, which has been leading the state for 20 years.

In Spain, the Socialist Workers Party leads the government, with a comfortable difference from the right-wing Popular Party, which is experiencing a real crisis and confrontation with the extreme right-wing "Vox" party, and in Portugal, the government is also led by a Socialist Party.

In Norway, the Socialist Workers' Party succeeded in leading the government with a minority after allying with the Center Party to form a center government, and Sweden, Denmark and Finland gave a majority to the parties affiliated with the left.

But the idea of ​​the traditional left seems no longer tempting, and what is currently happening in Europe is moving towards the idea of ​​the "center-left", and this is what the leader of the British Labor Party Keir Starmer is trying to do, who is trying to bring his party back to what is known as "Blarianism" after the current of the Prime Minister Former Briton Tony Blair, who was closer to the center than to the left.


Search for the youth

The data of the European Barometer showed an increase in the number of young people and the so-called “Z” generation who identify themselves as adopting a left-wing orientation or as being with centrist parties.

According to the same statistical institution, opinion polls show an increase in youth support for left-wing parties and their policies, as the most important issues that trouble this generation are climate change, discrimination, racism and government services and improving their quality.

They are also a strong supporter of the idea of ​​the European Union, and this was demonstrated by the Brexit referendum, as more than two-thirds of young Britons voted to remain in the Union.

A third of European youth born at the beginning of the year 2000 present themselves as belonging to the center, while a fifth of these young people say they belong to the left, and 10% say they support the radical left.

Western leftist parties managed to attract young people to their ideas, despite some of them faltering in the elections (Reuters)

The word is for the elders

If the left enjoys wide popularity among the youth, why do they not tip the balance in the elections, especially in major countries such as France and Britain?

The answer is reflected in the fact that young people in Europe are considered a minority. According to figures provided by the European Agency for Statistics "Eurostat", only 26% of Europeans are under the age of 25, in contrast, 40% are over 50 years of age and over.

In addition to being a minority, a YouGov poll showed that young people between the ages of 18 and 24 do not participate much in the elections, as one third of this age group participated in the elections that took place in many European countries in 2019. .

Despite this, the youth group has remained resistant to the extreme right so far, and despite the attempt to win over this youth movement, taking advantage of the fact that they did not live through the woes of the nationalist movements that emerged in Europe and the devastation they caused, European youth are still far from voting for the extreme right.

The escalation of far-right hostility is pushing Muslims to consider leaving France after the 2022 presidential elections (Al-Jazeera)

The inspiring trio

Three names who adopt leftist ideas have succeeded in mobilizing young people in an unprecedented way in recent years, and it is related to former US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, former Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, and leader of the "France Proud" party, Jean-Luc Melenchon.

All three combine that they have created an unprecedented rally of youth behind them thanks to their slogans of social justice, improved health and education services, and taxation of the rich and obscene.

The three were closer to turning the tables on everyone, as Jeremy Corbyn was close to reaching the premiership in 2017, and Melenchon needed only about 400,000 votes to overtake the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and reach the second round in this year's elections, as well as Bernie Sanders, who collected millions of votes in his favour. In the first round of the 2020 US presidential election.

Omar Ismail: The glare of the left-wing parties in Europe has receded due to the absence of real, inspiring leaders (Al-Jazeera)

lack of leadership

In turn, the former head of the Arab bloc in the British Labor Party, Omar Ismail, explains the decline in the glare of the historical left parties in some countries in the absence of "real leaders capable of inspiring peoples, especially during a period of crises."

In his interview with Al Jazeera Net, Ismail rejects the idea of ​​"the death of the left because socialist ideology has not died, but rather exists and has its bases in Europe," referring to the centers of power in Europe that do not want personalities with a true leftist thought to rule, "because this matter constitutes a threat to it."

Ismail sets the example of what Jeremy Corbyn was subjected to during the 2019 elections in Britain, “At the time Corbyn was a candidate to win the prime ministership, but all the solid state institutions cooperated in order to thwart him, attack his person and incite him using the media.”

Regarding the situation in France, Ismail expects that Macron "will not find a way to return to the Elysee Palace without resorting to the forces of the French left, to help him confront the great tide of the extreme right, and this means that the left still has weight."

The danger of populism

For his part, Professor at the University of Birmingham, Kamel Hawash, believes that the left and all European political currents face "the danger of populism and the extreme right and the slogans it carries from America first and Britain first."

In his interview with Al-Jazeera Net, the British professor expected that the recent developments after the Corona epidemic and the war in Ukraine "may lead to a decline in the influence of the extreme right and a return to the principles of the left, especially with regard to the equitable distribution of wealth and clinging to the idea of ​​the European Union and NATO as well."