French presidential election: Macron vs Le Pen rematch

The result is not a surprise

As expected, according to preliminary results announced at 8pm on April 10 local time, incumbent French President Emmanuel Macron won first place in the first round of the election with 28% of the votes. In second place right after Mr. Macron was the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen with 23.2% of the vote. The leader of the left-wing France Unyielding Party Jean-Luc Melenchon was third, with about 21%, while far-right anti-immigrant candidate Eric Zemmour was fourth with 7%.

12 candidates competed in the first round. Since none of these will get more than 50% of the vote, the two leaders, Mr. Macron and Ms. Le Pen, will be the two shortlists for the second round of the election to be held on April 24. Thus, the 2022 Presidential election in France is a “rematch” between the two main opponents in the election five years ago.

Cautious before the results of the first round, Mr. Macron urged voters to go to the second round of voting. “We cannot afford to be wrong. Nothing has been decided yet. The debate we will have in the next 15 days will be decisive for our country and our Europe.” – CNN quoted Mr. Macron as saying. “I don’t want a France that will have its only ally of populists and international xenophobia. That’s not us. I want a France that is loyal to humanism, with a spirit of spirit. Enlightenment,” Macron said.

In a speech on April 10, Le Pen pledged to become president for “all French” if she won the second round and urged those who did not vote for Mr Macron to support her in the second round.

The losing candidates quickly began to support the two leading candidates. While far-right candidate Zemmour urged his supporters to vote for Ms. Le Pen, the rest of the party called for support for Mr. Macron. Candidate Melenchon told his supporters “not a single vote for Ms. Le Pen”, while Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo and Republican candidate Valerie Pecresse said her victory Le Pen would “open France to discord, impotence and collapse”.

Rematch

Five years ago, Mr. Macron beat Le Pen with ease, but experts say this year’s rematch will be much more fierce than the 2017 race.

Mr. Macron is no longer a political novice. While his ambitious plan to strengthen the European Union’s autonomy and geopolitical power earns him respect abroad and at home, he remains a divisive figure when it comes to to domestic policies. His handling of the yellow vest protest movement, one of France’s longest-running protests in decades, as well as its effectiveness in combating the COVID-19 epidemic, was widely criticized.

Mr. Macron is looking to become the first French President to be re-elected since former President Jacques Chirac in 2002. While polls have given him a consistent edge, the race has turned tight. stars in the past month. Le Pen’s support has steadily increased in recent weeks. Ms. Le Pen has managed to present herself as a very different candidate than the one who easily lost to Mr. Macron in 2017. Despite her reputation for far-right policies such as drastic restrictions on immigration and banning the wearing of the Muslim headscarf in public places, this time Ms. Le Pen took on a more orthodox campaign, a more moderate tone and focused more on pocket issues such as spending. Rising cost of living – a top concern of French voters.

During the last election campaign, Ms. Le Pen focused on interacting with many unskilled voters, poor people in rural villages, taking pictures with Muslim women wearing veils. Among the candidates, Ms. Marine Le Pen is also the one who makes the strongest promises about improving people’s lives, such as reducing VAT from the current 20% to only 5%, increasing Minimum wage… Therefore, Ms. Marine Le Pen attracted greater support than Mr. Macron, especially when Mr. Macron was criticized for spending too much time on the Ukraine issue and overlooked, even considered. often campaigning.

Although Mr. Macron still has an advantage over Mrs. Le Pen, this advantage is quite fragile and Ms. Le Pen has a complete chance of winning. Thomas, CNN’s Europe affairs columnist, thinks the upcoming debates will be crucial. If Mr. Macron fails to convince voters to improve social security and focus on livelihood issues, the incumbent president could lose ground to rival Le Pen.