John Oliver Reminds Us Why Everyone In Europe Should Be Watching The French Election
British comedian John Oliver has dedicated this week’s episode to the upcoming French election, warning it might be a repeat of what happened with Donald Trump and Brexit.
Appealing to the French people’s “innate sense of superiority”, he begged them not to make the same mistake as the US and Britain by failing to participate in this election and letting far-right candidate Marine Le Pen get elected.
“You in France love nothing more than acting like you are better than Britain and America, well now is your chance to prove that,” Oliver said.
He warned about “reckless overconfidence” in underestimating Marine Le Pen, as had happened in the US with Donald Trump.
“This feels a little like déjà vu. A potentially destabilising populist campaigning on anti-immigrant rhetoric, who rages against the elites despite having a powerful father and inherited wealth, even as all the experts reassure us that there is no way it can possibly happen,” he added.
Le Pen is fervently anti-EU and her election could spell the further disintegration of Europe, following Brexit.
The first round of the 2017 French presidential election is set to be held on April 23rd. If no candidate wins a majority, a run-off election between the top two candidates will be held on May 7th.
Emmanuel Macron, a centrist former banker who is pro-EU and innovation, is the favourite to win the election, with Le Pen a close second.
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