Liberal Emmanuel Macron was re-elected as French president. According to extrapolations after polling stations closed on Sunday night, he clearly prevailed against EU right-wing critic Marine Le Pen. According to broadcasters France 2 and TF1, Macron won around 58 to 58.2 percent of the vote, Le Pen 41.8 to 42 percent. Le Pen admitted defeat. The result is still a victory for his political movement, Le Pen said.
“We are more determined than ever to defend the French,” said Le Pen. “This result is proof of the great distrust of the French people towards them,” she said, referring to the leaders of France and the European Union. “We’ve been buried a thousand times,” Le Pen told her party. This will form an opposition to further defend the French against immigration, insecurity and raising the retirement age. Le Pen now turns his attention to the French general elections in June. The game isn’t over yet, Le Pen tells his supporters. Tonight begins the great battle for parliamentary elections. His Rassemblement National party is open to anyone who wants to unite against Emmanuel Macron.
However, Macron’s victory must be understood primarily as Le Pen’s defeat. Because many French people were dissatisfied with their first term. After the first round of the elections, several parties called for the construction of a wall against the right and that President Le Pen, who despite her decidedly more moderate behavior still takes extreme right positions, be prevented from voting for Macron. This dynamic already existed in 2017, when Le Pen and Macron faced each other for the first time in the second round, and in 2002, when Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, lost to conservative Jacques Chirac in an accident.
Marine Le Pen admitted defeat to Macron © AP, (c) AP (François Mori)
Faced with the war in Ukraine, Macron, 44, has also benefited from the population’s desire for stability and moderate politics. He also has clear successes in the job market and a robust take-off for the French economy after the Corona crisis.
Macron’s electoral victory should be a huge relief for Europe, even if the charismatic liberal is by no means the preferred partner everywhere. His opponent wanted to break the close cooperation with Germany that had been going on for decades. Eurosceptic nationalist Le Pen also sought to decisively curb the European Union’s influence in France, and could have stopped a number of projects in Brussels out of self-interest. The pro-European Macron, on the other hand, is considered a driving force in Europe together with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
EU Council President Charles Michel expressed his relief at Macron’s re-election. “We can count on France for another five years,” the Belgian wrote on Twitter late on Sunday. “In these turbulent times, we need a strong Europe and a France that is fully committed to a more sovereign and strategic European Union.” Michel wrote: “Congratulations, dear Emmanuel Macron”. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also congratulated. “I am pleased to be able to continue our good cooperation,” the German politician wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “Together we will advance France and Europe.”
NEOS club president Beate Meinl-Reisinger is also pleased: “Emmanuel Macron’s victory is a victory for freedom and for Europe. In his first term he proved to be a great European, a defender of our liberal values and a a clearly pro-European way of life, which, despite all the crises, was and is always trying to put what unites before what divides and not only represents France, but the entire European Union, on the world political stage.”
Le Pen’s closeness to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin has also fueled concerns about the current escalating crisis between the West and Russia. There were fears that the West’s staunch pro-Ukraine front might collapse under Le Pen. After all, she already had the prospect of cooperation with Russia after the war and announced her intention to remove France from the command structure of the NATO western defense alliance. In contrast, Macron is considered one of the most important Western mediators in the war. He repeatedly calls Putin.
In 2017, the then political star Macron and the right-wing Le Pen faced off in the second round of the presidential election. At the time, however, Le Pen was much more clearly inferior to her opponent – she only got a third of the votes. In the most recent election campaign, Le Pen tried to adopt a moderate stance and is now also considered eligible for elections by parts of the middle right. Frustration with Macron’s tenure and his political style, which was sometimes seen as arrogant, benefited her.
Macron supporters wait at the Eiffel Tower for their candidate’s victory speech © APA, (c) APA/AFP/BERTRAND GUAY (BERTRAND GUAY)
Macron, who supported economic progress during the election campaign, arrived at the Élysée Palace in 2017 with his movement La République en Marche. Once a more left-wing candidate, he now increasingly represents liberal-conservative issues. Before becoming president, the northern Frenchman worked as an investment banker, advised Socialist President François Hollande and was Minister of Economy from 2014 to 2016.
From a historical point of view, Macron’s re-election cannot be taken for granted: since the founding of the fifth republic in 1958, only three presidents have served two terms before him, most recently the conservative Jacques Chirac (1995 to 2007). Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy failed in his second bid for the presidency in 2012.
The French head of state has broad powers and holds the post for five years. About 48.7 million French people were registered to vote. In the first round, two weeks ago, twelve candidates ran. Traditional socialist and traditional republican parties have had historically poor results.
It will now be decisive for France’s fate whether Macron also achieves a majority in the upcoming parliamentary elections in June. If that doesn’t happen, he would have to appoint a head of government from the majority camp. His power would then be significantly weakened and political decision-making would become much more difficult. Although Macron had the support of left and conservative parties in the second round, they are pursuing their own interests in the parliamentary elections. Left-wing politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who came in third in the presidential election, hopes to become prime minister if the left wins elections in June. The right can also try to gain power through parliament.