Center candidate Emmanuel Macron will be president of France for five more years after clearly defeating his far-right rival Marine Le Pen in the second round of Sunday’s presidential election. Macron won with 58.8% of the vote, versus 41.2% for Le Pen, according to the Ipsos Institute estimate for the France 2 network.
The abstention of around 28%, the highest since 1969, shows the disinterest of the electorate and the refusal of another part to decide between the two finalists. The first challenge of Macron’s new mandate will be to reconcile a France whose deep divisions have been revealed in these elections.
“Today’s vote,” declared the President, “forces us to consider all the difficulties and lives lived and to respond effectively to the anger expressed.”
Macron, 44, has avoided the usual punishment of the head of state in the French election. He is the first President of the Republic to be re-elected since the mandate was reduced from seven to five years in 2002. Since the office was first elected by universal suffrage in 1965, only François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac have served dual terms.
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Le Pen, 53, clearly lost but jumped up compared to 2017 results when he received 34% of the vote compared to 66% for Macron. This time she has the best record in history for the populist nationalism she has led. He had never been so close to the Force.
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SubscribeMarine Le Pen.Photo: FRANCOIS MORI | Video: EPV
Macron, who is often accused of arrogance and contempt, tried to show humility in a short and solemn speech just before 10 p.m. in front of the Eiffel Tower. He thanked the left-wing citizens who had voted against his project but for him in order to prevent the extreme right from winning: “Your vote binds me for the coming years.” He also had a few words for the teetotalers: “Your silence means a denial of choice to which we must respond.” And for his rival’s voters: “I know that for many of our compatriots who have chosen the extreme right, the anger and disagreements that led them to vote for this project must find an answer.”
Le Pen, in a speech minutes after the initial estimates were released at 8:00 p.m., declared: “Tonight’s result represents a great win in itself.” And he added: “Millions of compatriots have chosen the national field.”
Twenty years after ultra-patriarch Jean-Marie Le Pen first reached the second ballot, winning 18% against then-President Chirac, his daughter is making strides in turning the far-right into an acceptable option for about half of voters. It has stopped frightening many French people, but not all.
Macron’s achievement is remarkable considering he is ending a five-year period marked by the Yellow Vests revolt, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, and in a country where voices against the system are higher than ever before. With a new five-year term and barring an unforeseen accident, Macron will have ruled France for a decade, enough time to make his mark on the country and the European Union.
The current leader, who commands a solid electoral base of about a third of the electorate, is seen by most as the most reliable in leading the country in a world in crisis. She also garnered a good chunk of support from left-wing voters in the April 10 first round. You chose him, but not out of conviction.
The success of the President of the Republic is not complete. It is well below the 66% of five years ago. The extreme right and other forces challenging the system are becoming more prominent. And the collapse of the traditional Republican and Socialist Party right has left France with no moderate alternative to Macron’s hypercentre.
The high abstention rate shows that some citizens are disconnected from the electoral process. But it also shows the president’s growing difficulty in mobilizing voters against Le Pen. The Republican front – the union of left and right against the extreme right – is faltering. There are antilepenists who stayed at home because they refused to support Macron.
Le Pen’s defeat is not sweet at all. Maybe he was expecting to lose, but not by such a margin. It was her third time trying to become President and taken coldly the result shows that although she is close, and although she is watering down her message, and although she is trying to appear close to the French, she continues to fail Aim to conquer the Palace of Elysium.
On the ideological field, which ranges from the hard right to the extreme right, a struggle begins with an uncertain outcome. It’s not clear if Le Pen will continue or if she will be allowed to continue. Neither is the role of his party, the National Regrouping (RN), which is linked to the family clan. Also who, whether it be Le Pen or other leaders who seek to reunite the entire nationalist right, will lead this movement.
In his defeat speech, Le Pen promised: “I will continue my commitment to France and the French people with the energy, perseverance and affection that you already know.”
Preparations for the parliamentary elections on June 12th and 19th are now beginning in France. Macron will try to revise his majority in the 577 seats in the National Assembly. In what form remains to be seen.
Now he governs with a majority of 269 deputies from his party La República en Marcha, from the centrist MoDem and from other small parties. The unknown is whether he will try to create a new major movement, ranging from the social democratic left to the moderate right, a macronist party, or whether he will opt for a grand coalition of smaller parties.
The other unknown is what the extreme right will do before the general election. Will the RN present itself alongside the party of Éric Zemmour, the ultra talk show host who won 7% in the first round of the presidential elections? Will the right wing Republicans join them?
“The national bloc must unite,” declared Zemmour. “Let’s form the first coalition of the right and the patriots.”
On the other side of the political spectrum, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the populist left and third in the first round of the presidential election, has said he aspires to unite the left under his leadership and win a majority in the general election that will force Macron to appoint him Prime Minister and to rule with him in cohabitation.
“[La derrota de Le Pen] This is very good news for the unity of our people,” said Mélenchon, whose voters contributed to Macron’s victory by betting on the President to stop Le Pen. And he added: “Mr. Macron is the worst elected President of the Fifth Republic. Its presidential monarchy survives by default and under the pressure of a biased election. Nothing in a sea of abstentions, of empty and invalid votes.”
The Socialist Party and Republicans are confident that their solid local roots will allow them to win decent numbers of MPs, even though their respective presidential candidates failed to get 5% in the first ballot.
After the shock of the presidential election, the general election will set the political landscape for years to come and mark the playing field for President Macron 2. An election is over. The campaign continues.
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