European elections: surge in far right voting attributed to Gen Z

On Sunday night, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally celebrated tilting France to the far right by getting 32% of French votes in the European elections, more than double those scored by Macron and his allies. This led to the French President calling a snap election, that could decide Europe’s fate for the next few years.

If the UK general election, less than a month away, continues down the Labour path, then we may find an awkward combination of a somewhat pro-Europe and supposedly centre-leftist British leader with a cynical French hard-right boss-mademoiselle. Macron’s advocacy of a stronger Europe would vanish, and with him any trust that young liberals had in the French and European system. 

Similar populist right-wing parties made their way to the top of the European election polls across the continent against all expectations. In Germany, Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats suffered a massive blow, the biggest in more than a century, coming in third place behind the winners, CDU-CSU, and the very controversial Alternative for Germany (AfD).

If this would be it, then we’d be—as we say—cooked. Done for. But it’s progressively getting worse than that — we’re burning. Why?  What I’m finding most daunting is that one of the reasons Europe lost the likes of France, Austria and Germany was because of the votes of my generation. 

For the first time, citizens over the age of 16 were eligible to vote in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Malta, and all citizens over the age of 17 in Greece. In the latest Eurobarometer, 64% of young people indicated that they would be voting in this year’s European election.

While it’s still early to discuss to what extent young people’s votes have influenced this year’s election results, there is one thing that I can say with certainty: the far-right owes my generation for its sudden surge in votes.

Despite its supposed progressive, liberalistic views that support environmental sustainability, human rights and social justice, Gen Z is probably the most polarised generation when it comes to such matters. A lack of awareness for young leftist that others their age surprisingly have century-old radical views with the many who did not exercise their right to vote has shown in the polls, with an apparent 36% of 18 to 24 year olds in France backing the National Rally, for example.

We’ve found that Italy’s winning Fratelli D’Italia party, with its post-neofascist prime minister Giorgia Meloni, alongside Netherlands’ close-to-the-top Islamophobe Geert Wilders from the Party for Freedom, have done particularly well with young voters, especially young men.

I found this seriously concerning, as a young woman in particular, to see these results in this modern age be caused by those who should understand the rights we have and that we could be losing. 

This form of political trauma was born in many young women since the ruling that overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade in America two years ago. The very fact that the President of the United States, perhaps the most powerful man on earth, was unable to do anything about it two years later, has instilled a great fear in European women: are we next?

“The centre is holding,” said Ursula von der Leyen as she remains the lead candidate for the European Commission president. Yet with an increasing number of European countries going over to the right side of the river, the reluctance is palpable among the Gen Z populace.