2) You’re right. I mixed up the Netherland numbers. Geert Wilders Party gained 17% of the vote, 4 seats, as they didn’t exst in the previous election. The center-right conservative party, the Christian Democratic Appeal, lost 4.33% of the vote from the previous election, going from 7 seats to 5 seats.

So my point is still correct, in that it was the far-right, not the center-right, that gained in the Netherlands.

2) In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ anti-Islamic Party for Freedom won 17% of the vote and secured four of 25 seats.

Other than being a bit deceitful in cases such France, I would just like to point out that this bit is actually false with both Germany and the Netherlands – though the rest seem to be at least technically correct.

1) The Center Right didn’t gain in Germany. The CDU/CSU, Merkel’s Party, lost 7 seats while the Socialists lost none. Even if you factor in the Free Democratic Party gain of 5 seats. The right still lost 2 seats overall. 1 of which went to the Green Party, the other of which went to “The Left” Party. Both leftists parties. So how did center-right gain in Germany? Simply put, it didn’t.

2) The Center Right didn’t gain in The Netherlands. They lost 2 seats. The Party for Freedom gained a ridiculous 17 seats, but as you rightly point out, they are crazy nationalist party.

It’s amazing the type of propaganda papers like the WSJ get away with it. Seriously the problem is that the Socialist Party of France is that it’s not centrist enough?

Even the most casual observer of French politics knows that one of the primary reasons for the UMP electoral success is because the left in France is divided between people who are pro-business and those that aren’t.

For instance, in the latest European Elections, the left won the most votes pretty easily in France. Unfortunately the majority of righ-wing voters voted for Sarkozy’s Party Do the math.

The Left (I.E. Liberals, Democratic Socialists, and Communists): Socialist Party 16.48%, Green Party 16.28%, Democratic Movement 8.45%, Left Front 6.47%, New Anticapitalist Party 4.88%, Worker’s Struggle 1.20%. That is 53.76% of the vote.

This means they won 45.31% of the vote.

The Right (Free Market Conservatives and Fascists): UMP 27.87%, National Front 6.34%, Libertas 4.80%, Independent Ecological Alliance 3.63%, Arise the Republic 1.77%. That’s 44.41% of the vote.

Even if you call the Democratic Movement and the Independent Ecological Alliance moderates. They personally proclaim themselves beyond labels of right and left wing. Then you still have the left winning the most by almost five percent, 45.31% to 40.78%.

So how from this could one conclude that the left’s failure in France is because the Socialist Party is too far to the left? When the left-wing wins the most votes and the Socialists are the most moderate left party?

Especially when one considers that the most popular politician in France at the moment, according to polls, is the far-left politician Olivier Besancenot?