Although the gap between Macron and Le Pen is larger than the last polls had predicted, the result is remarkable for the right-wing nationalist. However, the first round of the presidential election also shows that two phenomena have increased since 2017.
According to initial projections, Emmanuel Macron received 28.4 percent of the votes cast.
France’s voters will have to choose between the same two presidential candidates in two weeks as they did five years ago. Incumbent Emmanuel Macron and right-wing nationalist Marine Le Pen qualified on Sunday for the run-off election on April 24 as the best-placed in the first ballot. According to initial projections, Macron received 28.4 percent of the votes cast, while the right-wing nationalist Marine Le Pen received 23.4 percent. The gap between the two is therefore significantly larger than the last surveys had predicted.
collapse of the parties
The result is nevertheless remarkable for Le Pen, because she lost some of her fellow campaigners and certainly also voters to the right-wing extremist publicist Éric Zemmour. Zemmour performed significantly worse than expected with 7 percent. He ended up fourth, behind far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon. As was the case five years ago, Mélenchon is currently the best-placed left-wing party with 21.1 percent.
The results of this first round of elections show that the developments that began five years ago have continued to intensify. Macron, Le Pen and Mélenchon have increased their share of the vote. The once dominant popular parties, the Parti socialiste and the conservative Les Républicains, are in danger of disappearing into insignificance after this election. Both the socialist Anne Hidalgo (1.8 percent) and the conservative Valérie Pécresse (4.7 percent) performed significantly worse than expected. More than half of the French who voted voted for a candidate of extremes; even the communist candidate did better than the socialist.
However, abstentions have also reached a new high. It is estimated that just over a quarter of eligible voters, 26.5 percent, stayed away from polling stations. This is the highest value in twenty years. It is striking that voters in the big cities in particular showed little interest in the presidential election.
Anne Hidalgo, the communist Fabien Roussel and the Green Yannick Jadot advised their supporters on Sunday evening to vote for Emmanuel Macron in two weeks. Her arguments sounded similar to those of her predecessors five years ago: it was important to prevent a right-wing extremist president. Even if he didn’t mention Macron’s name, Jean-Luc Mélenchon spoke out against “just one vote” for Marine Le Pen. Contrary to what was announced last week, Valérie Pécresse also made a recommendation for Macron. In doing so, she probably placed another fungus in her own ranks. Her party colleague Éric Ciotti, who belongs to the right wing of the Conservatives and made no secret of his sympathies for Éric Zemmour, refused on Sunday evening to make a recommendation for one of the qualified candidates. Meanwhile, Zemmour called for support for Marine Le Pen “despite some differences”.
position as a counterpoint
For her part, Le Pen invited “all those who did not vote for Macron” to join her. In her first brief statement on the evening of the election, she described herself as the candidate for ordinary people. She highlighted the positions where she differs significantly from her challenger: the retirement age, for example, but also her plans for a referendum right and the introduction of proportional representation. The election in two weeks is the election of a society, even a civilization, said Le Pen.
Emmanuel Macron also wanted to address his supporters later on Sunday evening. He was the only candidate who did not follow the first projections among his supporters, but in the Élysée Palace. There will be a televised debate between the two finalists on April 20th. So far, Macron has refused to discuss with his competitors.