PARIS –
French President Emmanuel Macron comfortably won re-election to a second term on Sunday, according to projections from polling agencies. Amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the result offered the European Union the reassurance of stable leadership in the bloc’s only nuclear-armed power and was immediately hailed by France’s allies.
A second five-year term for the centrist Macron spares France and its allies the seismic upheaval of a wartime power shift to Macron’s populist challenger, Marine Le Pen, who quickly conceded defeat on Sunday night, but he still seemed headed for a better performance. by his fiercely nationalist far-right policies.
Acknowledging that “numerous” voters voted for him simply to keep out Le Pen’s fiercely nationalist far-right policies, Macron vowed to reunite the country “full of so many doubts, so many divisions” and work to defuse voters’ anger. that fed Le Pen. pen campaign.
“No one will stand by the wayside,” he said in a victory speech against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower and a projection of France’s blue, white and red tricolor flag.
“We have a lot to do and the war in Ukraine reminds us that we are living through tragic times in which France must make its voice heard,” he said, as several hundred supporters joyfully waved French and EU flags to the tune of Daft Punk. One more time.”
During her campaign, Le Pen vowed to dilute France’s ties with the 27-nation EU, NATO and Germany, moves that would have shaken Europe’s security architecture as the continent grapples with its worst conflict since World War II. . Le Pen has also spoken out against EU sanctions on Russian energy supplies and faced scrutiny during the campaign for his previous friendship with the Kremlin.
A chorus of European leaders hailed Macron’s victory. “Democracy wins, Europe wins” said the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez.
“Together we will move France and Europe forward” tweeted the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi hailed Macron’s victory as “splendid news for all of Europe” and a boost for the EU to “be a protagonist in the greatest challenges of our time, starting with the war in Ukraine.”
Five years ago, Macron won a landslide victory over Le Pen to become France’s youngest president at 39. The margin is expected to be much smaller this time: Opinionway, Harris and Ifop polling agencies projected on Sunday that Macron would win at least 57% of the vote. vote.
Le Pen was projected to win between 41.5% and 43% support, a result still unprecedented for the 53-year-old in her third attempt to win the French presidency.
The first official results of France’s presidential runoff are expected on Sunday night. If projections hold, Macron would become the third president since the founding of modern France in 1958 to win twice at the polls, and the first in 20 years, since incumbent Jacques Chirac defeated Le Pen’s father in 2002.
Le Pen called their results “a brilliant victory” and said that “in this defeat, I can’t help but feel a form of hope.”
Breaking the threshold of 40% of the vote is unprecedented for the French extreme right. Le Pen was beaten 66% to 34% by Macron in 2017 and her father got less than 20% against Chirac.
She and far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, one of 10 candidates eliminated in the first round on April 10, rushed into France’s legislative elections in June, urging voters to give them a parliamentary majority to stall to Macron.
Le Pen’s score this time rewarded her years of efforts to make her far-right politics more palatable to voters. Campaigning hard on cost-of-living issues, he made deep gains among blue-collar voters in disaffected rural communities and former industrial centers.
The projected drop in support for Macron compared to five years ago points to an uphill battle ahead for the president to rally the people behind him in his second term. Many French voters found the 2022 presidential rematch less compelling than in 2017, when Macron was an unknown factor, as he had never previously held elected office.
Left-wing voters, unable to identify with either the centrist president or Le Pen’s fiercely nationalist platform, agonized over the options available on Sunday. Some reluctantly flocked to polling stations solely to stop Le Pen, casting sad votes for Macron.
“It was the least bad option,” said Stephanie David, a transportation logistics worker who backed a communist candidate in the first round.
It was an impossible choice for retired Jean-Pierre Roux. Having also voted communist in the first round, on Sunday he tossed an empty envelope into the ballot box, repelled both by Le Pen’s politics and by what he saw as Macron’s arrogance.
“I’m not against his ideas, but I can’t stand the person,” Roux said.
Instead, Marian Arbre, voting in Paris, voted for Macron “to avoid a government that meets fascists, racists.”
“There is a real risk,” the 29-year-old worried.
Macron entered the vote with a considerable lead in the polls, but faced a fractured, anxious and tired electorate. The war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic plagued Macron’s first term, as did months of violent protests against his economic policies, creating fertile ground for Le Pen.
With the EU’s sole seat on the UN Security Council and sole nuclear arsenal, the outcome in France was being watched across the 27-nation bloc. France has played a leading role in international efforts to punish Russia with sanctions and is supplying weapons to Ukraine.
Appealing to working-class voters struggling with rising prices, Le Pen vowed to make lowering the cost of living her priority and argued that Macron’s presidency had left the country deeply divided.
Macron sought to appeal to voters of immigrant descent and religious minorities, especially given Le Pen’s proposed policies targeting Muslims and putting French citizens first in line for jobs and benefits. He also touted his environmental and climate achievements, hoping to attract young voters who backed leftist candidates in the first round.
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Associated Press writers Thomas Adamson, Sylvie Corbet, and Elaine Ganley in Paris, Michel Spingler at Henin-Beaumont, and Alex Turnbull at Le Touquet contributed.
Reference-www.ctvnews.ca