PARIS - Marine Le Pen wants to bust the French political system — and people across Europe and beyond should take note. Her stunning score in the first round of French presidential elections won her anti-immigrant National Front a place in the Europe-wide march of nationalist — sometimes extremist — parties toward seats of power. Le Pen's rage will be on millions of voters' minds, both her critics and fans, as they elect a president Sunday. The same day, Greek citizens, strapped by austerity measures in a nation crushed by debt, could vote in about a dozen lawmakers from the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn. Bit by bit, far-right parties from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia are gaining momentum among the populace and a foothold in their nations' power structures. The European debt crisis has added a sharp edge to the mix. More than two dozen parties around Europe denouncing immigrants — mainly Muslims — as invaders, and calling globalization and the European Union devils in disguise, are gnawing at the political mainstream. "Islamism is the totalitarianism of religions and globalization is the totalitarianism of trade," Le Pen, who won almost 18 percent of the first round vote, said at a news conference this week. "The nation is the only structure capable" of vanquishing the evil. The Dutch nationalist Freedom Party of Geert Wilders, the third-largest in the Netherlands' parliament, brought down the minority government last week simply by withdrawing support — an inspiration to Le Pen who cites it as an example of what she and her party could do. Le Pen's strong strong third place showing in the first round caused conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy to blatantly borrow from her rhetoric in hopes of wooing her voters and saving his job when he faces a runoff Sunday with Socialist Francois Hollande. Hungary's populist center-right government headed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban is worrying the European Union because of a repressive media law and other restrictive measures. But the country also counts extreme-right Jobbik as its largest opposition party, one with anti-Roma and anti-Semitic overtones.
