By Karin Hiebaum
Liberal Emmanuel Macron has been re-elected as French president. According to projections after the polls closed on Sunday evening, he clearly prevailed against the right-wing nationalist EU critic Marine Le Pen. According to broadcasters France 2 and TF1, Macron came to about 58 to 58.2 percent of the vote, Le Pen only 41.8 to 42 percent.
Macron’s victory should be seen primarily as Le Pen’s defeat. Le Pen conceded her defeat. There was loud whistling and booing at her election headquarters when the results were announced. After the first round of voting, several parties called for a wall to be built against the right and for a President Le Pen, who despite her emphatically more moderate appearance continues to hold extreme right-wing positions, to be prevented by a vote for Macron.
The 44-year-old also benefited from the desire for stability in light of the Ukraine war. Nevertheless, many French are dissatisfied with Macron’s first term in office and perceive his political style as arrogant. Parliamentary elections are already scheduled for June, and it is currently considered very unlikely that Macron will be able to claim victory there as well. As a result, he and the country are threatened with cohabitation, i.e., that the executive strongman president and the head of government belong to different parties.
Breathing a sigh of relief in Europe
Macron’s election victory should be a great relief for Germany and Europe, even if the charismatic liberal is by no means the partner of choice everywhere. His opponent wanted to break away from decades of close cooperation with Germany.
EU Council President Charles Michel expressed relief at Macron’s re-election. «We can count on France for five more years,» the Belgian tweeted Sunday night. «In these stormy times, we need a strong Europe and a France fully committed to a more sovereign and strategic European Union.» EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola also congratulated Macron on Twitter.
The Euroskeptic nationalist Le Pen strove to decisively curb the influence of the European Union in France and could have put the brakes on quite a few projects in Brussels for her own interests. Not least, her closeness to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin fueled concerns that the West’s firm pro-Ukraine front might crumble under Le Pen.
Le Pen sees resounding success
Le Pen sought to turn the fresh electoral defeat into a campaign kickoff for the June parliamentary election as late as election night. She said she would not give up, and she warned her supporters that the «danger» was great that Macron would win again in the parliamentary election.
Initial polls put Le Pen at around 42 to 43 percent. This result is a «resounding victory,» she said, alluding to the result five years ago. Back then, she had lost to Macron with just under 34 percent.
Melenchon: Election campaign is open
Like Le Pen, left-wing politician Jean-Luc Melenchon, who narrowly missed making it into the runoff, stressed that as of now the campaign for the parliamentary election is open. Addressing all those who had not or only reluctantly voted for Macron, Melenchon said there was «still a way to beat Macron by means of the parliamentary election in June.»
Le Pen loses second duel against Macron
Back in 2017, then-political youngster Macron and right-winger Le Pen faced off in a runoff for the presidency. Back then, however, Le Pen was much more clearly outnumbered by her opponent – she won only a third of the votes.
Macron, who campaigned on economic progress, had made it into the Elysee Palace in 2017 with his La Republique en Marche movement. At the time a rather left-wing candidate, he now increasingly represents liberal-conservative themes. Before becoming president, the northern Frenchman worked as an investment banker, advised Socialist President Francois Hollande and served as economy minister under him from 2014 to 2016.
Por Karin Hiebaum
Profesora universitaria,
psicóloga y corresponsal en Europa
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