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support alone without alliances with the mainstream right, despite the risk that a party of
the left might come to power altogether. Resentment of the mainstream right and in
particular Jacques Chirac, who ordered his party not to make alliances with the radical
right at any level of government even if it meant giving up power to the left, has been
deeply embedded in a bitter competition between elements on the right wing over the last
decade about how best to position themselves strategically to maximize their potential.
The controversy over isolationist practices or alliances with the mainstream right to share
coalitional power and have more direct access to central channels of political power was
at the core of the rift that divided the party between Le Pen and Bruno Mégret’s
breakaway party, the MNR. It can be expected to continue as a source of tension.
-offensives from the mainstream left and right
The mainstream left and right approached the 2002 elections passively. Neither
side expected much challenge from the peripheral parties. As a result, both the
mainstream right and mainstream left sounded most similar in their campaigns. They
talked about identical issues and in much the same way (Tagliabue 2002). However, the
elections of 2002 have ignited a firestorm on the left with criticism of the handling of the
campaign abounding (Bergounioux, Evin, Richard, Sapin, and Soulage 2002; Noblecourt
2002) The Socialists had a weak platform and positioned themselves in the ideological
center, which many voters on the left found unappealing (Riding 2002, A6). The
Socialist Party is France can be expected to undertake every measure feasible to find
fresh candidates to present a more finely tuned party platform in the next elections.
On the right side of the ideological spectrum, Jacques Chirac appears to have
taken his overwhelming victory with more than 82 percent of the mandate from the
Convention