To say a massive well done to the people of France...

[MrsBennetsPoorNerves]

For telling the far right National Rally to fuck off to the far side of fuck!!!

So relieved!

Incredible news. They're by no means dead and buried but a huge amount of people came out to vote and pushed them into third. What a relief.

wow, that is amazing good news

I'm delighted but complacency would be foolish. It took a lot of candidates falling on their own swords to make this happen. Unless parties sort out immigration they are only kicking the can down the road.

Let’s hope Nigel Farage is taking note, although I doubt it.

Is hard left any better than hard right? Not convinced.

Is it a done deal yet though?

I don't follow French politics, but I was worried that people in the rest of Europe were not looking at the state of the UK and learning from the disaster that has unfolded here due to populism and right wing culture wars. I also hope Farage is watching too.

We need press reform too. Even over the last few days I get the impression they haven't read the fucking room. When will they understand that the UK are no longer fooled by fear tactics and division?

I do think I like this French voting system. Giving voters a chance to see what they might get so can vote again with cooler heads.

but surely a huge proportion of 'the people of France' voted for them, otherwise it wouldn't have come so close?

I mean obviously it's a good thing but a bit weird to congratulate the population as a whole when so many of them actively voted against what you're praising them for.

It's also hardly a decisive 'tell them to far off to the far side of fuck,' when it seems like they've still come third overall and that's after all the removal of other left candidates to avoid splitting the vote - if I'd expected to have a choice between 7 candidates from different parties and wanted to vote Green, but was told last minute 'actually it's either Starmer or Farage,' I'd obviously have voted Starmer but I'd feel bulldozed into it rather than proud of my democracy!

(I know that's an oversimplification of what happened but as an illustration)

It's a broad left wing alliance that won.

@Sakura7 I know what you mean. It's great news. I'm overjoyed with the Labour landslide but it's tempered with the news that ghastly Farage made some progress. One just wishes the far right would fuck off altogether in a puff of sulphurous smoke. Probably won't happen though.

This - they haven’t told anyone to ‘fuck off’, to get this result a lot of candidates had to tactically withdraw. Ignore Le Pen’s popularity at your own peril, it’s how we ended up with Brexit (not Le Pen but smearing people with concerns as racist and trying to ignore the whole sorry mess)

I think even the far right in France don't want to leave the EU. So they've learned from us that it was idiotic to hold that referendum and bumble out of the single market.

It seems to have been the result of cooperation between left and centrist candidates, but I agree on some levels with @SquirrelSoShiny that it’s not a problem solved, just postponed, although I think it’s about more than just immigration.

I'm so relieved! I'll take a left wing alliance over the right any day of the week.

Of course I'm not congratulating the far right, and it is depressing that they got as many votes as they did. But this result is the triumph of the decent majority over the far right, and I'm bloody delighted to see it.

Of course, they have to take the extremist threat seriously. They can't be complacent. But I am hugely encouraged by the fact that the majority of people clearly don't want a far right government and will do whatever it takes to prevent that. I hope that we would do the same in the UK if it came to it.

Amazing how people who think they are progressive and tolerant are just as hateful and intolerant as the people they hate

DH and I were literally just having this conversation.

Third still gets a bronze award. Like a Trump come back it's not over yet

There's always a core of the population who have far right views. I think about 25% to 30%. So all countries need to find voting systems to manage that as it's a human trait for some making it impossible to irradicate.

I for one am not going to apologise for hating racists and fascists. I think that should be the response of any decent person.

We see so many of these comments from far right supporters. I don't know why they assume that those on the left are supposed to be tolerant of all views. Why on earth should anyone be tolerant towards those with morally repugnant views?

Where do you draw the line at people who you’re allowed to hate? Sex offenders? Child abusers? Animal batterers? People traffickers?

You know, there are certain demographics where hatred is justified because they’re vile, evil people and far right fascists definitely fall into that group? God forbid we begin to “tolerate” them.

Well, it's only a projected result at the moment, and my understanding is they could end up with no party in overall control, so an uneasy coalition at best.

Not saying a far right victory would have been preferable, but it's a bit early for congratulations.

And when does tolerating become appeasing? And everything that followed that strategy with Hitler?

I think you need to meet people outside your bubble. My parents are racist but i would never hate them. I have been subject to alot of racism growing up. The world is not black and white and any kind of idealist, morally superior mentality is dangerous. That's how the Nazis started.