Far right parties have been gaining ground in several European countries since the 1990s, their successes ascribed to disenchantment with the perceived failures of leftwing governments, growing concern over immigration and the tightening of the European Union. We provide a guide to Europe's largest far right parties, their current strength and their future potential.
Special report: Europe's far right
Austria
Freedom party (FPO)
Key figures: Jörg Haider (FPO's de facto leader and governor of Carinthia),
Susanne Riess-Passer (FPO leader and vice chancellor, Austrian sports minister)
Led from 1986 to 2000 by Nazi sympathiser Jörg Haider, the FPO came second in the 1999 general elections on an anti-immigration and anti-EU ticket, winning 27% of the vote and 52 seats in parliament under the PR system. Soon after the vote, Austria weathered the wrath and sanctions of the EU after the rightwing People's party agreed to form a coalition government with the FPO.
FPO members currently hold six posts in the Austrian cabinet, but growing tensions between Mr Haider and FPO moderates are threatening to split the party. However, the FPO is still strongly supported in parts of its southern electoral heartlands - Mr Haider's achievements are likely to endure for some time.
Special report: Austria
Belgium
Flemish Block (VB)
Key figure: Frank Vanhecke (VB's president)
The far-right Vlaams Blok became the biggest political force in its Flemish stronghold city, Antwerp, in October 2000, taking 20 out of 50 seats on the city council. In the 1999 parliamentary elections it took 9.9% of the vote, translating under the PR system to 15 seats in the lower house. VB is fiercely anti-immigrant, openly anti-semitic and advocates Flemish self-rule.
Denmark
Danish People's party (DPP)
Key figure: Pia Kjaersgaard (leader, DPP)
The ultra-right DPP swept into parliament as the country's third-largest party following the 2001 elections, taking 12% of the vote and 22 seats under Denmark's partial PR system. Now underpinning a centre-right government coalition, it has drafted tough new asylum policies and cut aid to the developing world.
France
National Front (FN)
Key figure: Jean-Marie Le Pen (leader and founder, FN)
A persistent presence in French politics since 1972, the FN and its ageing leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, never seriously threatened to break through at the national level until the recent shock presidential elections. Mr Le Pen took 17% in the first ballot, beating the Socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin, to second place and prompting an orgy of national self-recrimination that saw him thrashed by 18% to 82% in the final round.
Nevertheless, this means six million people cast their vote for Mr Le Pen - the highest poll for the far right ever and in spite of a huge national campaign against him. Mr Le Pen's vote held up and even increased marginally in some constituencies, raising the unwelcome prospect of a strong showing for the FN in France's parliamentary elections next month. This startling change of fortunes must be ascribed, not just to a weak and divided left, but also to the growing European trend in anti-immigration attitudes.
Special report: France
Germany
Republican party (REP), German People's Union (DVU), National Democratic party (NPD)
Key figures: No dominant leaders.
The far right in post-war Germany has manifested itself largely as a neo-Nazi youth protest movement, with plenty of unpleasant rallies by disaffected and racist youths from both the east and west of the country. However, none of Germany's three minor far right parties has made headway at national level. In the 1998 parliamentary elections, the REP and DVU mustered just 1.8% and 1.2% respectively - way off the 5% hurdle over which votes can translate into seats under Germany's dual PR/first past the post electoral system. However, these parties have had limited successes at local level, and since the Kohl era, anti-immigrant policies have made it on to the national agenda.
Greece
Hellenic Front
Key figure: Makis Voridis (leader, Hellenic Front)
A tiny party that didn't even register on the electoral radar in the 2000 elections, the Hellenic Front's insignificance illustrates the comparative weakness of extreme right politics in Greece.
Italy
Northern League, National Alliance
Key figures: Umberto Bossi (pictured: leader, Northern League),
Gianfranco Fini (leader, National Alliance)
The xenophobic Northern League and the post-fascist National Alliance entered a rightwing coalition with Silvio Berlusconi's governing party following general elections in 2001. Defying international criticism, Mr Berlusconi gave three cabinet posts to the Northern League, despite the fact that it only polled 4% of the vote, and one key post to Gianfranco Fini. With policies such as authorising coastguards to shoot human traffickers and the belief that the EU is run by paedophiles, the Northern League's inclusion in government prompted widespread concern across Europe.
The Netherlands
Pim Fortuyn's List (LPF), Liveable Netherlands
Key figure: Mat Herben (leader, LPF)
Mat Herben, a former defence ministry spokesman and the current LPF party spokesman, now leads the party that still bears the name of his predecessor, who was shot dead on May 7. In general elections on May 15, LPF came second only to the centre-right Christian Democrat party (CDA), winning 26 parliamentary seats in its first ever election contest. It is now preparing to enter a coalition government with the CDA. However it is doubted whether LPF can survive in the long term without its maverick founder.
Despite standing for zero immigration and stating that Islam was "backward", Pim Fortuyn's politics represented a uniquely Dutch take on the far right. He was openly gay; his deputy, Joao Varela, was himself a black immigrant; and some critics said he was less extreme than other European far right leaders. Fortuyn formed LPF this February after being sacked by the Netherlands' main far right party, Liveable Netherlands, for the strength of his anti-immigration stance.
Norway
Progress party
Key figure: Carl Hagen (leader, Progress party)
Norway's far right Progress party has propped up a rightwing coalition government since elections last October, in which the Labour government that had dominated Norwegian politics for almost a century was ousted. The Progress party, which wants to cap immigration at 1,000 people a year, won 26 out of 165 parliamentary seats after polling 14.7%.
Portugal
Popular party
Key figure: Paulo Portas (leader, Popular party)
Portuguese parliamentary elections held this March saw the Popular party win 14 seats, after polling almost 9% of the vote. The fiercely anti-immigration party, led by crusading rightwing journalist Paulo Portas, is now part of a rightwing coalition. Mr Portas has pledged to introduce tight immigration limits and to prevent the transfer of further national powers to the EU.
Switzerland
Swiss People's party (SVP)
Key figure: Christoph Blocher (Leader, SVP)
Although it does attract extreme right support, the SVP is best described as hard right. The party takes a strongly anti-immigrant line but its populist leader, Christoph Blocher, insists he is not racist. After elections in 1999, the party became Switzerland's second-strongest political force, polling a joint top 22.5% and winning 44 seats. However, Mr Blocher's bid to enter government failed when his request for a second SVP cabinet post was rejected by the other coalition leaders.
United Kingdom
British National party (BNP)
Key figure: Nick Griffin (leader, BNP)
Thanks partly to Britain's electoral system, the racist BNP is highly unlikely ever to return an MP to Westminster. Its best ever electoral showing was at this May's local elections, in which BNP candidates won three local council seats (out of a national total of over 6,000) in the deprived and racially divided Burnley. The BNP's Cambridge graduate leader, Nick Griffin, wants to pay non-whites to return to their countries of ethnic origin and to withdraw Britain from the EU.
Special report: The far right in Britain
Special report: race in the UK
Text
Maybe some P&Ners from the other side of the pond can give us an opinion? From everything I have read the far right parties are gaining popularity, as well the poll in Denmark that showed the DPP gaining popularity pretty quickly. It seems that EU might be taking a hard swing towards the anti-immigrant/far right.
perhaps it'll wake the liberals up from being apologists and enablers for extreme islam.
Facebook
Twitter