In a country that prides itself on the Revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity, the surprisingly strong showing of far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in the first round of presidential balloting is both unexpected and deeply distressing. But the French contrarian streak was out in force last Sunday when the nation gave Le Pen one of the two spots in the May 5 run-off for president.

Le Pen has referred to the Holocaust as a “detail” of history and seeks to outlaw the wearing of Muslim headscarves in schools. He would end legal immigration to France and expel illegal immigrants already in the country. In an editorial Monday, the publisher of the left-leaning French daily Le Monde referred to Le Pen as a “sinister demagogue” and wrote of the humiliation that citizens feel at the strong showing of a man who has often been accused of racism. Despite Le Pen’s radical positions, he captured 17 percent of the vote, beating out Socialist Party candidate and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.

In a vote compared by some in France to an earthquake, Le Pen came in a close second behind French President Jacques Chirac due to a fractured left wing that sucked votes away from the uninspiring Jospin. Chirac is now almost guaranteed to win the run-off, but the whole incident has left the French wondering how they could have let Le Pen become such a force in national politics when it was uncertain a few weeks ago if he could even get the signatures of enough elected officials to qualify for the ballot.

Le Pen’s strong showing is especially distressing given the spate of anti-Jewish incidents that have rocked France in the last few weeks. Synagogues have been burned, shot at and vandalized across France. Europe’s latent anti-Semitism is rearing its ugly head and Le Pen’s stunning victory reinforces the notion that France is standing by, if not encouraging, the continued attacks against its Jewish citizens. The apathy surrounding the attacks on Jews was mirrored by the dismal turnout for the election. The turnout—although high by American standards—was France’s lowest since the establishment of the Fifth Republic in 1958. Combined with the fracturing of the left wing, the low turnout took so many votes away from the mainstream candidates Chirac and Jospin that their vote counts were far below their past levels. Some voters may have voted for minor party candidates—or even for Le Pen—to protest what they see as a sclerotic political elite. Both Chirac and Jospin have been powerful in French politics for years and their campaigns received lackluster attention leading up to the first-round voting.

For the sake of France, we hope the voters will reject Le Pen by an overwhelming margin and exorcise the anti-Semitism and hatred of immigrants that has returned to haunt the nation. The recent protests against Le Pen in the streets of Paris and other French cities are heartening. We hope those protesters turn out to vote for Chirac and close the door on a politician who disgraces the French ideal of fraternité and seeks to transform one of the most progressive nations in the world into a xenophobic one.