A crucial debate will take place on April 20 between the candidates for the French Presidency: Emmanuel Macron, La República en Marcha; and Marine Le Pen, National Association. The current president could be left on the ropes due to the apparent shortcomings of his first term; while his opponent will seek to avoid the extremist messages that influenced him so much in the 2017 election, a line he’s been working on throughout the campaign.
In the first ballot, Emmanuel Macron received 27.6% of the vote and Marine Le Pen 23.41%. They needed more than 50% to win. Recent projections show the current president as the winner on April 24, albeit by a much narrower margin than the 66.1% he scored over the same rival in 2017. The abstention on April 10 is expected to exceed 25%, which in turn leaves behind 22.2% registered in 2017. Photo: Taken from the website www.elperiodico.com
For many analysts, the vote scheduled for April 24 will also be a referendum on whether or not the nation remains in the European Union and the announced ecological transition. Macron, defender of the regional bloc, has promised to promote renewable energy and is talking about building six new nuclear power plants; while Marine is no longer openly opposed to integration but insists on reforming the terms under which France participates in the European Union.
The incumbent president assured last Saturday that “ecology will be at the heart” of his policy. It was an obvious nod to the youngsters present at the Marseille event, a region where La Francia Insumisa’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon emerged as the favorite in the first round (April 10). It is worth noting that the 70-year-old candidate received the votes of 65% of citizens aged between 25 and 34 across France.
No rhetoric, however, could quell the uneasiness that caused the Yellow Vests to take to the streets at these massive protests, which have denounced social inequality and other systemic flaws for several months since late 2018. Nor would it resolve the labor dispute that is keeping the transport sector and unionists on strike against the Train and Tram Work Organization Ordinance, which comes into effect on January 1, 2025.
Macron has earned the nickname “President of the Richest” with distinction for his economic policies and the abolition of the wealth tax. A report by the French Institute for Public Policy ensures that the richest 1% increased their income by 3%, while the poorest 5% benefited only 0.8%.
During this campaign, the President announced unpopular measures such as raising the retirement age to 65 and increasing enrollment fees for higher education. This had a clear impact on the elections and partly explains the rise of Mélenchon, who this time received 22% of popular support, just 1.2% less than the far-right candidate.
“We must not give Marine Le Pen a single vote!”, the representative of La Francia Insumisa stressed as soon as he knew the result, and called on his voters not to give up: “As long as there is life, the fighting goes on. I know that now the violence of disappointment is directed towards what could have been done, but how can we not be proud of the work done, the Popular Front exists, what would have happened if we had not worked? ? .
In an open letter to his constituents (published April 13), Mélenchon warned that “Marine Le Pen is contributing to the project of social abuse by sharing with Emmanuel Macron a dangerous ferment of ethnic and religious exclusion.”
French political scientist Pierre Lebret, an expert on international cooperation, said: “Never before has the threat posed by the far right reached such a high level of support just days before the election. The danger lurks and the consequences would be dire if a person from the extreme right, openly racist, were to sit in the Elysée. It should also not be forgotten that France is a nuclear power and a permanent member with veto rights in the UN Security Council. It doesn’t matter who rules. As former President François Mitterrand put it: Le nationalisme, c’est la guerre (Nationalism is war)”.