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News in Brief; Update: far-Right political parties in Europe

01 July 2003

In its latest review of the successes and losses of
far-Right and anti-immigrant electoral parties in
Europe, the Institute of Race Relations notes that
extreme-Right immigration and law and order
policies are being incorporated into the agenda of
mainstream centre-Right parties; extreme-Right
electoral parties are appealing increasingly to rural
constituencies; and new political parties are
emerging, whose policies are shaped almost entirely
by an anti-immigration agenda.

IN the last six months, an extreme-Right political party
has, once again,
become part of the
coalition government of
Austria. After months
of wrangling, the
Freedom Party (FPÖ)
was invited to become
a junior partner in the
centre-Right coalition
government, despite
the fact that it was the
FPÖ which sparked last summer's governmental crisis
and forced new elections.

In Italy, the anti-immigrant Northern League (a junior
partner in the coalition government led by Silvio
Berlusconi) is threatening to bring down the
government if its virulent anti-immigration agenda is
not strictly adhered to. But local elections in May 2003,
covering 25 per cent of the Italian electorate, saw
losses for the League, as well as for the post-fascist
National Front (AN), led by Gianfranco Fini.

Electoral gains

Following the May 2003 Belgian general election, the
Vlaams Blok (VB) is now the fifth largest party in
Belgium with 11.6 per cent of the national vote (17.9
per cent of the vote in Flanders) and 18 seats (up 3) in
the Federal Chamber of Representatives. This is the
most significant gain for the European far-Right since
Jean-Marie Le Pen captured 18 per cent of the vote in
the 2002 French presidential elections. The VB made
significant gains in rural areas, where there are few
immigrants and low crime rates. Although the VB lost
some support in Antwerp, it is now the main party with
7 seats out of a total of 24. The Francophone National
Front (FN) also gained in the elections. It achieved 1.98
per cent of the national vote (5.6 per cent of the vote
in Wallonia), which translates into one seat in the
Federal Chamber and one in the senate.

In the UK, the extreme-Right British National Party
had its biggest breakthrough in the May local elections,
and now holds sixteen council seats. It is now the joint
second largest party on Burnley Council in the
north-west of England.

Incorporating extreme-Right views

Even in countries where pollsters predict that the
extreme-Right political parties' share of the vote is on
the wane, the extre