Ultra-right parties in EU nations score surging popularity in recent surveys

Recent polls reflect surging popularity of ultra-right political parties in Sweden and the Czech Republic after France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen widened her lead ahead of the presidential election.

A wave of surveys released this week across Europe confirm earlier assessments that the populist scourge gripping the continent remains alive, the British newspaper Daily Express reported. 

This is while establishment political parties such as Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) continue to struggle in approval ratings.  

According to a recent poll, nationalist parties in the Czech Republic are gaining a record level of popularity while anti-EU parties in Italy continue contending for the top spot.

The report came after the European Parliament proposed the diversion of more funds from the EU budget towards “tackling populism.” The chamber says the persisting trend towards nationalism among EU member nations is threatening to split the bloc apart. 

In France, National Front party leader Le Pen broadened her lead by five percent as the nation’s most popular single candidate, according to an Ifop survey released on Thursday.

Le Pen, considered by some as a shock candidate for the French presidency, registered 26 percent of support from those surveyed compared to 21 percent expressed for centrist politician Emmanuel Macron and only 18 percent for scandal-hit conservative Francois Fillon. 

The campaign of the far-right leader in France has gained momentum by appealing to concerns about immigration and perceived threat to the French culture, loss of EU sovereignty and by tying joblessness to globalization. 

In the Czech Republic, the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) recorded a popularity rating of eight percent in a survey released by Medea, making it the fourth largest in the country. The party, however, still lags far behind the pro-EU, centrist ANO party, which leads other political parties with a 28-percent popularity rating. 

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In Sweden, the nationalist Swedish Democrats Party recovered from a recent slump in polls by registering a 17-percent popularity rating in a Sifo survey, a figure well below its highest rating of 25-percent recorded last November. The country is due to hold elections in 2018.

The same survey showed the popularity of the Center Party, a pro-refugee liberal movement, had climbed to 12 percent despite the country’s struggles with migration issues, representing the party’s highest rating since 1982. 

In Italy, latest polls showed the anti-EU Five Star Movement still tying neck-and-neck with the ruling socialists on 30 percent each as the country gears up for a potential snap election. 

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