10/04/2022 20:59 / UPDATE 10/04/2022 21:02 . posted to
(Credits: Joel Saget, Eric Fefferberg / AFP)
Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen got the most votes In the first round of the French presidential election, held this Sunday (10/4). The current French president received 27.6% of the vote, while the right-wing candidate received 23% of the vote.
The competition was tighter than expected. According to the French newspaper, the leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon received 22.2% of the vote. le monde,
There were 12 candidates for the presidency in the first round, but the highlight of the vote was the huge 26.2%, nearly four points more than the last election registered in 2017. Voting is not compulsory in France.
The second round will take place on April 24, and 2017 clash replays, In the first round of elections five years earlier, Macron had received 24% of the vote, while Le Pen had received 21% of the vote.
In the second round, he won from 66% to 34%. According to the most recent poll by Ipsos, Macron is expected to repeat the feat and win the second round by 54% to 46%, a tighter contest than the previous election.
If Macron wins re-election, he will be the first president in more than two decades to do so.
second round scenario
Now, France must decide whether to continue with the reformist policies of President Emmanuel Macron, which has sparked a wave of protests in recent years, or take a turn towards Le Pen’s ultra-conservatism.
Macron was heavily criticized for his delay in joining the campaign and was even labeled “arrogant” by voters. It prioritized the conflict in Ukraine, in an effort to highlight the leading role of Europe. When he saw that Marine Le Pen was gaining strength, he accused his opponent of lying by adopting a more liberal tone than his father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front, and hiding a racist government program. Put it.
Analysts fear that with Le Pen’s eventual victory in the second round on April 24, France will follow the UK and try to break away from the European Union (EU), leading to the collapse of integration. There are also fears that the ruling far-right will jeopardize the leadership role of Europe. With the ouster of Angela Merkel and the rise of Olaf Scholz to German Chancellorship, Macron has sought to establish himself as Europe’s leading political figure.
Thomas Guenolle, a post-doctoral in political science, left-wing expert and former professor at the universities of Paris, explained to the report that voters have been migrating far and wide for decades. In 1982, he recalls, about 50% were supporters of leftist candidates. Thirty years later, that rate has halved. “In 1982, almost zero percent of voters were on the extreme right. Now they add up to a third. Le Pen’s performance in elections improves because, more and more, the voters of Zemour decide to vote for him in the second round to secure the far right”, he remarked.
“Marine Le Pen’s chances of winning in the second round are very slim. However, it’s not even zero. She would require a very unlikely but likely scenario: an unexpectedly large number of voters supporting her instead of Macron; And a large number of left-wing voters opted to go and leave Macron,” Guenolle said.
