But, who is really driving?

Wolfgang Hansson 

 

Published: Less than 40 minutes ago 

 

This is a commentary text. Analysis and positions are the writer's. 

 

COLUMNISTS 

 

First, voters gave Macron the mandate to sit in the driver's seat. 

 

Now they suddenly want extreme politicians on both sides to be at the helm. 

 

This means that French politics will become more Swedish. 

 

But how does that relate to a left-wing wave in Latin America? 

 

 

Goofy, Kalle Anka and Mickey Mouse have breakfast in their caravan. Photo: Disney 

 

The outcome of the French parliamentary election makes me think of Christmas Eve and the cartoon where Långben, Kalle Anka and Musse Pigg push along winding mountain roads sitting at the breakfast table in their caravan when they suddenly realize that no one is sitting at the wheel. 

 

Panic erupts. 

 

Emmanuel Macron recently sat at the wheel of France when he won the presidential election over the right-wing populist Marine Le Pen in a rather superior style. The left was virtually wiped out. 

 

Another two months of price increases for food and petrol and rising interest rates have obviously made the French unsure of what they really want. 

 

Now it seems that the driver's seat is left empty and replaced by a similar mess in French politics as we have seen in Sweden in the last term. Macron will have to sew together temporary majorities to get his proposals through. The only question is who he will collaborate with. A reborn left-wing coalition, the far-right Marine Le Pen or the severely wounded Conservative Republican Party. 

 

Five tough years for Macron 

 

Everyone wants to be involved and hold the steering wheel but steer in completely different directions. 

 

Maybe the Republicans are willing to help Macron raise the retirement age from 62 to 65, but since then? 

 

Democracies are becoming increasingly difficult to govern. Voters are changeable, unfaithful and impatient, and politicians' willingness to compromise is deteriorating. Macron has five tough years ahead of him. 

 

The French left can feel some hope. By digging down the battle ax and uniting, they managed to return from the dead's crowd and create a credible left-wing opposition. 

 

 

In Colombia, a former guerrilla fighter, Gustavo Petro, was elected president this weekend. Photo: Guillermo Legaria / Getty Images 

 

 

For Macron, five years of hard footwork with the Long Legs Democracy await. Photo: Francois Mori / AP 

 

The extremes are growing 

 

Left winds blow in other places as well. 

 

In Colombia, a former guerrilla fighter, Gustavo Petro, was elected president this weekend. The country's first left-wing president. 

 

Just before Christmas, leftist Gabriel Boric was elected President of Chile. Peru, Argentina and Mexico also have relatively new leaders leaning to the left. 

 

In October, there are elections in Brazil. The sitting right-wing populist Jair Bolsonaro is in a bad position. 

If one is to believe the opinion polls, the former left-wing president Lula da Silva will take over again. 

 

Despite the left-wing wave, Gustavo Petro has similar problems as Macron. Parliament consists of a dozen parties where it is far from obvious that Petro will get through what he went to the polls for; free university studies, redistribution of pensions and increased equality. Deadlock threatens. 

 

Which we recognize from the increasingly dysfunctional American democracy where cooperation across party lines is now synonymous with betrayal. 

 

The left winds are kept in check by a right wind that alternates and increases in strength. In France, Marine Le Pen's National Assembly took the opinion institutes to bed in the parliamentary elections. The party tenfolded the number of seats. 

 

The middle shrinks and the extremes grow. Although they can not take over, they create enough problems to make politics more chaotic and unpredictable.

 

 

The question is who Macron will collaborate with. A reborn left-wing coalition, the far-right Marine Le Pen or the severely wounded Conservative Republican Party. Photo: Michel Spingler / AP  

 

Lack of democracy 

 

All over the world, democratically elected governments have the same dilemma. Those in power have no clear mandate. Something that makes parliamentarism appear to be an increasingly deficient form of government. 

 

Instead of focusing on solving a country's real problems, politicians' time is occupied by tactical play and endless negotiations, the main purpose of which is to retain power. 

 

Even a stable country like Sweden is affected. During this term of office, we have had a government of Social Democrats and environmentalists who have implemented liberal center-right policies. Until the January agreement finally failed. Now we have instead a minority government that is dependent on a political savage, Amineh Kakabaveh.

 

In Germany, a three-party coalition has ruled since last autumn, held together by agreeing on certain issues and pushing others aside. Whether they manage to stick together until the next election in 2025 is highly uncertain. 

 

For Macron, five years of hard footwork with the Long Legs Democracy await. Even if he has to fight for the steering wheel, for the sake of the French and democracy, we can hope that the car does not go into the ditch.  

 

 

In Sweden, we have a minority government that is dependent on a political savage, Amineh Kakabaveh. Photo: Stina Stjernkvist / TT