Malta is not the only country where far-right candidates did well in this weekend’s European Parliament elections.
In fact, the European Network against Racism has expressed its “deep concern” about the progress registered by far-right political forces in many EU member states.
“When there is such support for racist and xenophobic parties, alarm bells should start ringing for mainstream parties and for society at large. We cannot allow 12 per cent of the European population to be unfairly treated as scapegoats, discriminated against and, worse, become the victims of racist violence,” chairman Sarah Isal said.
Norman Lowell bagged 6,205 first-count votes, nearly four times what he had garnered in the 2004 EP election, the first one he contested.
His group, Imperium Europa, got a total of 6,763 votes when considering those won by Antoine Galea and Arlette Baldacchino, who got 106 and 452 first-count votes respectively.
When contacted, ENAR’s national coordinator, Jean-Pierre Gauci, said the result signified the need for an “informed” national debate on migration and for a strategic and sustained effort to combat racism and xenophobia.
“It also raises the need for the mainstream political parties to deal with migration issues in a human rights-informed, responsible way while clearly and unequivocally stating they are against any and all forms of racism and xenophobia. There is no space for hatred and scaremongering in our politics, nor within society at large,” he said.
In France, the Front National, led by Marine Le Pen, notched up almost 25 per cent of the vote, winning about a third of the total number of French seats in the European Parliament.
In a statement, ENAR expressed concern that this election would result in millions of people within the EU being further excluded from society and in jeopardising the adoption of progressive measures to reduce inequalities. Even progress already made on equality legislation and fundamental rights could suffer a setback.
What would happen if a far-right or populist right MEP was to chair the civil liberties committee, in charge of fundamental rights issues, it asked.
Anthropologist Mark Anthony Falzon says Mr Lowell was “a temporary phenomenon”, leading him to believe his following will not continue to grow. “It is wrong to imagine that support for Imperium Europa will continue to grow. It won’t, simply because it is too closely linked to Norman Lowell himself. Lowell is an idiosyncratic and a very temporary phenomenon and he deserves to be treated accordingly,” he said.
Prof. Falzon said that although he expected Mr Lowell to do well, he did not expect the result to be so good.
He thinks people voted for him because he enjoys a strong following in social networking and other online circles and because his language appeals to the emotions of many people.
“It’s a range of emotions I have in mind, certainly hatred and anger and the rest, but also pride and amusement and other ‘positive’ feelings. Put differently, Lowell’s represents an aesthetic experience that’s idiosyncratic and eccentric, not least through his mannerisms and dress style, incidentally a common feature of far-right leaders.”
Prof. Falzon thinks Mr Lowell also managed to “tap into historically deep-rooted feelings of racism and white supremacy. I don’t think any of those who voted for him actually believed he would solve the problem of irregular migration,” he said, adding that censoring his political spots did not help the situation, making him even more attractive.