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PARIS (dpa-AFX) – According to projections, the incumbent head of state Emmanuel Macron and the right-wing Marine Le Pen are ahead after the first round of the French presidential election. As the broadcasters France 2 and TF1 reported on Sunday evening after the polling stations had closed, the liberal and his competitor from the Rassemblement National are moving into the run-off election on April 24th. According to TF1, Macron was well ahead of Le Pen with 24.4 percent with 28.6 percent. France 2 extrapolated Macron at 28.1 percent ahead of Le Pen at 23.3 percent.
Even if many French were dissatisfied with Macron’s first term and he did not inspire enthusiasm in the election campaign, the 44-year-old benefited from the weakness of other candidates. He also benefited from the population’s desire for stability and a moderate policy as a result of the war in Ukraine. He also has clear successes on the labor market and a robust take-off for the French economy after the Corona crisis.
The 53-year-old populist Le Pen, on the other hand, tried to score points with more moderate tones than before and at the same time presented herself as an advocate for those who are suffering from inflation and rising prices for electricity, fuel and food. Unlike Macron, she has been personally present at numerous market squares and in campaign halls for months. The other candidates played a much smaller role in the election campaign.
Macron and Le Pen will now face off on April 24 – a repeat of the 2017 runoff duel in which Le Pen ultimately lost to Macron. However, surveys predicted a much tighter outcome this time. Again and again, the candidate who finished second in the first round won the run-off in the French presidential election.
A victory for Le Pen would come as a shock to Germany and Europe with momentous consequences. Le Pen questions the close cooperation with Berlin that has been going on for decades and is more striving for cooperation with other Eurosceptics such as Budapest or Warsaw. In the European Union, under her, France could go from being a driver to a brakeman, quite unlike under the pro-European Macron.
In the current escalating crisis between the West and Russia, Europe and the USA, along with Le Pen, fear a crumbling of the solid pro-Ukraine front. While Macron is tirelessly struggling with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin for a solution, Le Pen has already made advances to him again. After the end of the war, Russia could become a partner again, said the nationalist known as a Putin friend.
Although polls predicted a much tighter outcome this time, Le Pen would need to mobilize significantly against Macron to win. She can count on supporters of Zemmour and Conservative votes, but rarely from the centre-left camp. Here it would help her above all if leftists, frustrated by Macron, simply stayed away from the election and thus drove up their percentages.
For the former mainstream Republican and Socialist parties, the election is a defeat of historic proportions. They hardly played a role in the election campaign. According to the broadcasters, left-wing politician Jean-Luc Mlenchon achieved a good 20 percent. Right-wing extremist ric Zemmour passed conservative Valrie Pcresse with around 5 percent with around 7 percent. Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo was lagging behind at around 2 percent. Green Yannick Jadot got about 4.5 percent.
Le Pen, who is running for the third time, tried to adopt a more moderate demeanor during the election campaign. The longtime politician, who inherited her father’s leadership of the Rassemblement National (formerly: Front National), nevertheless advocates, among other things, restricting immigration and social benefits for foreigners.
The 44-year-old Macron was barely visible during the election campaign. Macron, who backed economic progress during the election campaign, made it into the lysepalast in 2017 with his movement La Rpublique en Marche. Before becoming President, he worked as an investment banker, advised the Socialist President François Hollande and was under him Minister of Economy from 2014 to 2016.
The French head of state has far-reaching powers and is in office for five years. Around 48.7 million French people were registered to vote./rbo/DP/he