According to the French Interior Ministry on Monday morning, 97% of the votes were counted. Macron led with 27.6%, Le Pen with 23.41%. Both notably improved their 2017 results. Close behind, left-wing politician Jean-Luc Melenchon missed the second round – he finished third with 21.95 percent.
Even though many French people were dissatisfied with Macron’s first term and he did not inspire enthusiasm in the election campaign, the 44-year-old president benefited from the weaknesses of other candidates and desires for stability in the face of the war in Ukraine.
Macron, head of the APA/AFP/Thibault Camus, won the first round of the presidential elections
Right-wing populist Le Pen, on the other hand, tried to score points with more subdued tones than before while at the same time presenting herself as an advocate for those suffering from inflation and rising electricity, fuel and food prices. The other candidates played a much smaller role in the election campaign.
Defeat for Conservatives and Socialists
The election meant a crushing defeat for the old traditional parties in France, the Socialists and the Conservatives. Conservative middle-class (LR) Republicans with candidate Valerie Pecresse received only about five percent of the vote. The Socialists (PS), who was President François Hollande from 2012 to 2017, have dropped to around 2% with their candidate, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
Paris election report
Cornelia Primosch, ORF correspondent, reports from Paris on the results of the first round of the presidential elections in France, after which Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will go to the second round.
Immediately after the election ended, Republican, Socialist, Green (Yannick Jadot) and Communist (Fabien Roussel) candidates made a recommendation for Macron. If right-wing populist Le Pen comes to power, there will be “disastrous consequences for the country and for future generations,” Pecresse said Sunday night in Paris.
APA/AFP/Jean-Christophe Verhaegen Le Pen entered the second round, as it did five years ago
Melenchon did not speak out directly for Macron, but he made a firm appeal not to vote for Le Pen: “You must not vote for Le Pen”, he emphasized on Sunday night. Right-wing extremist Eric Zemmour’s camp – he got 7 percent – came out in favor of Le Pen. “Emmanuel Macron is the main opponent. He is the president of mass immigration, the president of insecurity, the president of deindustrialization,” said his supporter Marion Marechal. She is Le Pen’s niece and former politician of the RN Front National’s predecessor.
Macron looking for votes in the left camp
According to sources close to him, Macron will now focus on winning more left-wing voters to his side until the second round. Forming a coalition with other parties is not up for debate, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday. “I don’t think we’re interested in a majority of puzzles made up of small pieces that we have to constantly rearrange.”
Macron will focus, among other things, on central issues of the political left, such as the fight against the climate crisis and the strengthening of the European Union. The plan is to start with appearances in working-class strongholds in the industrial north of France, where Le Pen has fared better.
Second round election on April 24
Macron and Le Pen will now face each other on April 24 – a repeat of the 2017 second round duel, in which Le Pen ended up losing to Macron. Polls predicted a much tighter result for this time. Repeatedly, the candidate who finished second in the first round won the second round in the French presidential elections.
debate
Where is France going?
A victory for the 53-year-old Le Pen would come as a shock to Europe. In the European Union, France could go from being a driver to being a gas station attendant under him, in a very different way than under the pro-European Macron. As the crisis between the West and Russia escalates, Europe and the US fear that the solid pro-Ukraine front will collapse.
Le Pen is competing for the third time. The long-standing policy, which inherited the leadership of the Rassemblement National from its father, is committed, among other things, to restricting immigration and social benefits for foreigners. Macron, who relied on economic progress during the election campaign, managed to enter the Élysée Palace in 2017 with his movement La Republique en Marche. Before becoming president, he worked as an investment banker, advised Socialist President Hollande and was Minister of Economy from 2014 to 2016 under him.