Has Doctors’ Influence on French Politics Declined?

PARIS — “As a doctor, I feel particularly forsaken and troubled by the result of these votes inspired by hatred and malice.” This comment regarding the results of the European elections in France was displayed in a doctor’s waiting room in Saint-Martin-des-Besaces, a village of 1200 inhabitants where the far right National Rally (RN) received 38% of the votes on June 9.

In his message, written in capital letters, the 66-year-old doctor declared unambiguously, “If the choice of extreme violence is imposed, it will be without me.” He explained to France Bleu, a radio network, that he wrote this statement in a moment of intense emotion following President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly. Although he described the results as making him feel “nauseated,” he emphasized that his intent was to encourage dialogue.

Indignation and Fear

While not all doctors have gone as far as to display their political views in their offices, which could be seen as violating their obligation to remain impartial toward their patients’ ideologies, many have expressed their emotions and convictions about the RN’s potential role in France’s future.

Among most opponents of the RN, feelings of indignation and fear dominate, often accompanied by historical comparisons that others view as excessive. For example, Dr Amine Ayari, reacting on X the day after the dissolution announcement, stated that it was time for him to consider working outside France, which nevertheless is his home country. Beyond the numerous personal anecdotes, more general expressions of concern have also been shared widely.

Dr Jérôme Marty, president of the Union Française pour une Médecine Libre, has been particularly vocal on X, expressing concerns outside of his union role. One of his recent comments highlighted his concern that the RN’s proposed restrictions on dual nationals holding certain “sensitive” positions could eventually extend to fields such as healthcare.

Decline in Mobilization

The response has not been limited to individuals. In the final week of the campaign, various platforms and calls to action emerged. For example, Professor Antoine Pelissolo and Dr Julie Chastang urged votes for the candidates of the New Popular Front. Similarly, the Collectif de Professionnels et de Patients pour la Refondation de la Santé stated, “To truly combat the RN, political parties must propose urgent measures to improve the social situation of the population.” 

Besides these left-leaning platforms, several organizations have expressed their opposition to the RN clearly.

Hospital federations expressed concerns about the potential new challenges that foreign-trained doctors and nurses, who are essential to the functioning of many institutions, might face. They stated, “The values of public service are incompatible with any form of discrimination, rejection, or intolerance.”

While liberal doctors’ unions, which were notably active in 2002 and 2017, have been more reserved this time, young doctors’ organizations have made their stance clear. From the Syndicat National des Jeunes Médecins Généralistes to the Regroupement Autonome des Généralistes Jeunes Installés et Remplaçants, the message has been unequivocal. “Together against the far right,” the first organization declared.

Legislative Representation

These individual or collective initiatives suggest that many doctors still believe in their electoral influence. The quote from German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (“It is difficult to pass a law against 70,000 doctors who see 30 patients a day”) is often cited to highlight this perceived medical power. But this influence, if it ever existed, appears to have diminished over the years.

The idea of doctors’ electoral power in France stems from the significant presence they have maintained in the National Assembly since the early Third Republic. Although their numbers have decreased, doctors remain a strong presence. Over the years, the “medical lobby” has demonstrated its strength in blocking certain laws and even toppling governments.

Many in the political class, especially on the right, believe that the fall of the Juppé government partly resulted from the massive rebellion of doctors against him. However, political analysts often caution against overestimating this influence.

“The consistent overrepresentation of doctors in the National Assembly has not recently prevented the adoption of reforms contrary to the positions of the main unions of liberal doctors or hospital mandarins. Patrick Hassenteufel’s work shows how in France, Great Britain, and Germany, ‘medical power’ has eroded alongside efforts to control health expenditures, thus shifting decision-making power to state actors. The political power of the medical profession is not an inherent property but a relationship,” explained sociologist Frédéric Pierru in his 2017 essay “A Well-Founded Myth: The Health Professions Lobby in the National Assembly.”

The erosion of the medical profession’s electoral influence is evident in the clear gap between doctors’ orientations and national election results. This gap is observed in speeches and voting intentions.

A survey conducted by Le Quotidien du Médecin confirmed what previous studies have shown: Support for the RN remains a minority position among doctors. Only 15.9% of practitioners surveyed indicated their intention to vote for a candidate from Jordan Bardella’s party, while general population polls credit the RN and its allies with nearly 36% of voting intentions.

Doctors ‘Disconnected?’

Is the poster of the doctor from Saint-Martin-des-Besaces a case of “disconnection,” as suggested by the Boulevard Voltaire website, which presents itself as “open to all conservative right sensitivities?” The site claims that “the 60-year-old doctor is like much of his generation: Disconnected. He is stuck in the France of the 1980s. Most likely enjoying an enviable standard of living, our doctor…has not realized the decline in purchasing power, the explosion of insecurity, [and] the permanence of community tensions.”

Is this perspective too superficial? Doctors are at the forefront of observing the daily struggles of the French people, assessing their feeling of dissatisfaction with the political class, which analysts say is fueling the RN vote, beyond just a desire for stricter immigration policies. While the doctor’s message may caricature the far right with numerous analogies to Nazism, he also acknowledges the difficulties people face. “Life is indeed difficult for some, and as a social band-aid, I observe this more than anyone else.”

Doctors have likely witnessed many factors that may have swayed voters toward the RN. Among these factors is the issue of medical deserts. In 2017, the deputy director of the French Hospital Federation noted how maps of medical deserts overlapped with the vote for RN leader Marine Le Pen in the first round of the presidential election.

Changing Attitudes

Like many other French citizens, doctors experience the same distress over rising violence, of which they are sometimes victims, and the same frustration with the limits of political discourse, which also contribute to the RN vote. In fact, among doctors and health professionals, the RN has gained support in recent years.

In the public hospital service, voting intentions analyzed by the Centre de Recherches Politiques de Sciences Po in 2012 credited Marine Le Pen with 18%, on par with Nicolas Sarkozy. By 2017, Le Pen garnered 25% of voting intentions in the first round among public hospital employees.

Today, the survey by Le Quotidien du Médecin shows an increase in support for the RN of 9.5 points among doctors since 2022. This increase is the highest among all political parties. Additionally, two out of 10 general practitioners would be ready to vote for an RN candidate.

Medical Media

The traditional rejection of the far right among doctors is diminishing, and the effect of the “de-demonization” of the RN seems to be felt among healthcare professionals, albeit to a lesser extent. If there is a clear gap between practitioners and the general electorate, casting doubt on the supposed influence of doctors in political matters, there could also be a gap between anti-RN positions in medical media and sentiment among most of the medical electorate.

For instance, the New Popular Front, which various organizations support, notably the signatories of the platform initiated by Professor Pelissolo, is clearly shunned by doctors, whose inclination toward the right or center-right is not a myth. Moreover, indignation over State Medical Aid, is not always reflected in the surveys conducted among health professionals, which indicate that most favor the reform of the system rather than its abolition.

This story was translated from JIM using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.