At Champ-de-Mars, where Emmanuel Macron’s supporters gathered to discover the results of the second round of the presidential election, it was an explosion: their candidate emerged victorious in the ballot, with 58% of the vote.
As soon as the spaces dedicated to the public open, everyone rushes to the barriers that separate them from the presidential platform, where Emmanuel Macron will give his victory speech. It jostles and jostles to be in the front row when the re-elected president makes his entrance.
Many activists also proudly carry the French flag, the European flag and the signs “Emmanuel Macron, with you”, the campaign slogan of the candidate La République en Marche, and some display them in front of journalists and photographers.
Activists convinced that Emmanuel Macron is the man for the job
Tristan drove several hours from Blois to support Emmanuel Macron. “I’m only 17, so I can’t take part in the election, and so I came to support something other than voting,” explains the young man. He has gone through different crises, and I think he is the only one capable of governing France well.
For her part, Agnès, a 75-year-old retiree, defines herself as “a macronist from the start”, and claims to have “the same enthusiasm” for Emmanuel Macron’s campaign since 2017. “I read his book, I I was thrilled, I love her desire to act. If I vote for him, it’s not so much for me, but above all for my children and my grandchildren. However, she expects him to learn from his mistakes: “Macron is an intelligent boy. I hope he will take into account the things he is accused of, that he will succeed in giving the impression of listening to the working classes, of acting for the environment.
On the three giant screens placed in the middle and on each side of the Eiffel Tower, Emmanuel Macron’s campaign clips are broadcast, and some of the activists have fun completing the President’s sentences, so familiar are they with his language from heart.
“We saved our freedom, we saved Europe”
A few minutes from the result, Amaury and Allan, two friends aged 27 and 24 who came to support the president, are confident: “We have seen the estimates given by the Belgians”. If they do not define themselves as militants of La République en Marche, they have confidence in Emmanuel Macron to overcome the crises that France is going through, such as that of the coronavirus or the war in Ukraine.
8 p.m. The portrait of Emmanuel Macron appears on the screens which broadcast the television news live. Explosion of joy from the side of the public. The flags flutter, the signs are mounted in the air, and the militants, they all shout in heart: “And one, and two, and five more years! And one, and two, and five more years!” Amaury and Allan exult, Agnès dances with the French flag in one hand, and the European flag in the other. “We saved our freedom, we saved Europe, I am very moved but very happy,” says the retiree.
Everyone is impatiently awaiting the re-elected president for his speech, which he will give on a platform planted in the middle of the audience like a boxing ring. The Eiffel Tower sparkles, the projectors do their choreography, and the first music starts, which was probably not chosen at random: “One more Time”, (“one more time” in French) by Daft Punk.
A theatrical entrance
As in 2017, Emmanuel Macron makes a theatrical entrance for his victory speech. He is not alone this time, but accompanied by his companion Brigitte Macron, and both march to the European anthem “Ode to joy”. All arms are raised to wave the French and European flags but above all to film his arrival. The loudspeakers broadcast the voices of children shouting “Macron, president!”.
During his speech, he assures that “no one will be left by the wayside” for the next five years, and supporters, their eyes glued to the stage, applaud at each of his sentences. “Bravo!”, “Proud to be French!” can be heard here and there. Emmanuel Macron finishes his speech, the public immediately sings the Marseillaise, and the first activists begin to leave the Champ-de-Mars.
Heading towards the exit, Laurence, 53, from Toulouse, says she is a little disappointed by the speech of the president, now re-elected. After voting for him in 2017, she finally changed her mind in the first round this year, but remains convinced that the far right had to be blocked. “I was not enthusiastic, I expected better, more conviction, I found his speech a little agreed,” she admits. A taste of the next five years?