Mon 25 April 2022:
President Emmanuel Macron of France has won a second term in office, defeating his far-right opponent Marine Le Pen in a runoff election by a substantial majority.
On Sunday, his supporters exploded in applause when the results were projected on a huge screen near the Eiffel Tower in the Champ de Mars park. Leaders in Berlin, Brussels, London, and elsewhere hailed his victory over Le Pen, a nationalist and eurosceptic.
With nearly all votes counted, Macron was on course for a solid 58.6 percent of the vote, according to interior ministry figures. Le Pen, the candidate of the far-right National Rally party (Rassemblement National or RN), received 41.4 percent of the votes, the highest in her three unsuccessful presidential bids.
In his victory speech, Macron acknowledged that many had only voted for him just to keep Le Pen out and promised to address the sense of many French that their living standards are slipping.
“Many in this country voted for me not because they support my ideas but to keep out those of the far-right. I want to thank them and know I owe them a debt in the years to come,” the 44-year-old said.
He also promised to address the “anger and the disagreements” that led to many French voters choosing the extreme right, saying “this will be my responsibility and that of those around me”.
“No one in France will be left by the wayside,” he continued, pledging to be a “president for all”.
French President Emmanuel Macron after being re-elected president, during his victory rally at the Champ de Mars in Paris, France, April 24, 2022. #Reuters #presidentialelection2022 @reuterspictures 📸@benoit_tessier @fm_gonzalo @pixhartmann pic.twitter.com/SR3F45bwOS
— Sandra Auger (@sandra_auger) April 24, 2022
Macron is the first French president to win a second term in 20 years, but Le Pen’s result also marks the closest the far right has ever come to taking power in France and has revealed a deeply divided nation.
More than one in three voters did not vote for either candidate. Turnout was just under 72%, the lowest in a presidential run-off since 1969, and more than three million people cast spoilt or blank votes.
Much of France was on holiday on the day of the vote, but the low turnout also reflected the apathy of voters who complained neither candidate represented them. Voters who said they were casting blank ballots told the BBC they wanted to punish the sitting president.
Anti-Macron demonstrators rallied in a number of cities, including Paris, Rennes, Toulouse and Nantes, refusing to accept the result.
Anti-Macron protesters clash with police in Paris’ central Republic Square after French presidential election results https://t.co/QBgwqvMXRr pic.twitter.com/uc0MtVPUoG
— ANADOLU AGENCY (@anadoluagency) April 24, 2022
‘Brilliant victory’
Le Pen, who at one stage of the campaign had trailed Macron by just a few points in opinion polls, was quick to concede defeat. But she hailed her result as a “brilliant victory” and promised to keep up the fight with parliamentary elections in June.
Breaking through the threshold of 40 percent of the vote is unprecedented for the French far right. Le Pen was beaten 66 percent to 34 percent by Macron in 2017 and her father Jean Marie Le Pen, who founded her party, got less than 20 percent against Jacques Chirac in 2002.
“In this defeat, I can’t help but feel a form of hope,” the 53-year-old told supporters chanting “Marine! Marine!”
“I will never abandon the French,” she added.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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