I have been, err, abstaining from recording here my anxieties regarding the second round of the French presidential election, which will take place this Sunday.

But today, Jean-Marie Le Pen outdid himself, calling on all those who voted for him in the first round to “abstain” from voting on the sixth. That’s right: si vous ne pouvez pas voter pour moi, mieux vaut ne pas voter du tout. Just in case you were under the impression that fascism is good for democracy, Le Pen is here to demonstrate that, after all, no. It’s not.

In his speech he accuses the Parti Socialiste (PS, represented by Evita Perón — I mean Ségolène Royal) and the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP, represented by Nicolas “Hose the Arab scum!” Sarkozy) of hijacking French politics and marginalizing France’s political, well, margins. Even if you don’t understand French, watch the video to get an impression of his persona. In addition to his usual Evil Turtle aspect, Le Pen here displays his Petulant Fascist Child side — he didn’t get what he wanted, so now he’s throwing a tantrum. What he wanted was, at best, a repeat of the 2002 election in which a divided left produced a right-wing second round, with Le Pen facing off against Jacques Chirac (who subsequently won the presidency by the biggest landslide in the history of the Cinquième République). A nice consolation prize for poor little Jeannot would have been to maintain his usual 15-18%, the figure at which his party, the Front National (FN) has stabilized in regional elections in recent years.

Unfortunately for the FN, that nasty Sarko shamelessly (on that point, at least, I agree with Jeannot) stole his votes and he scraped a measly (to him) but terrifying (to us) 11%. Now, in a way, it’s a shame that Le Pen couldn’t get over himself and endorse Sarko, who has been happily riding the FN’s magic carpet of anti-immigrant invective — such an endorsement might have done more harm than good to le petit Nicolas, and thus boded well for France.

Instead, Le Pen is asking his electors to disenfranchise themselves voluntarily in this second round. Don’t get me wrong. I sincerely hope that none of Le Pen’s supporters will vote on Sunday, because if they vote, they will vote massively for Sarkozy (though to my startlement I read a report stating that 16% of those who intend to vote intend to vote for Royal). I am merely astonished that Le Pen openly acknowledges his desire to shut down all public discussion, and if he can’t do that, to remove himself and all his followers from that discussion. Today’s declaration is, in effect, a call to abstain from democracy as it is defined by the République, to abstain from the culture of debate that the Parti Socialiste, Royal, Bayrou, and Sarkozy have, more or less willingly, embraced.

You’re perhaps thinking, “Okay, yeah, so what do you expect from a fascist?” Anything and everything, including today’s speech. But I never cease to be astonished that the French electorate supports this man in such tremendous numbers. Of course, his supporters will tell you, “He’s not a fascist; he’s an extremist.”

Comme on dit dans le sud, ohputainmerde.