Paris, 10 Apr (Xinhua) -- The results of an export poll released by The French media on the evening of 10 April show that the current president Macron and the candidate of the far-right "National Alliance" Marina Le Pen won the first round of the French presidential election held on the same day, and will fight a decisive battle in the second round of voting.
Analysts pointed out that as in the 2017 presidential election, Macron, who represented the centrist, and Le Pen, who represented the far right, once again entered the second round of the general election, and the traditional left and right parties were all feathered, reflecting the profound changes in France's political landscape and ecology. The rise of the far right has made Macron's re-election uncertain.
French President Macron (front center) and his wife Brigitte (second from left) walk out of a polling station after voting in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, northern France, on April 10. (Xinhua News Agency, photo by Jenie William)
Re-election remains in suspense
According to the latest statistics of the French information television station BFMTV, citing the elaabé poll company, macron received 28.2% of the votes and Le Pen 23.4% of the 12 candidates participating in the first round of the presidential election. The two finished in the top two, but neither received a majority of the votes and will advance to the second round. The candidate of the far-left party "Indomitable France", Jean-Luc Mélangzion, received 21.2% of the vote, and the candidate of the far-right Party of the Restoration Party, Eric Zemour, received 7.3% of the vote.
Voters vote at a polling station in the French suburb of Crich on April 10. (Photo by Xinhua reporter Gao Jing)
Macron has implemented a series of reforms since he came to power, but he has not been able to fundamentally solve many problems in France's politics, economy and society, and public support has fallen to a record low of 23%. But with the gradual easing of the new crown epidemic in France and the "good result" of 7% economic growth last year, Macron's approval rating has been slowly rising. During the Ukraine crisis, Macron, as the leader of the EU presidency, actively mediated between Russia and Ukraine, and his personal approval rating rose sharply, at one point exceeding 30%.
However, the strong rise of far-right candidate Le Pen poses a huge threat to Macron's search for re-election. According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, polls conducted after the first round of voting show that Macron and Le Pen may have about 51% and 49% of the support in the second round, respectively, a small gap, compared with Macron's 66.1% vs. 33.9% victory over Le Pen in the second round of the 2017 general election. Therefore, there is still suspense whether Macron can be re-elected.
The claims vary
Macron and Le Pen spoke separately on the evening of the 10th. Macron called on voters to trust his "progressive, open, and independent campaign platform for France and Europe." "I want a France that belongs to a stronger Europe, not a France that leaves the European Union and is only populist and xenophobic," he said. ”
In her speech, Le Pen called on "all voters who did not vote for Macron in the first round of voting" to support her, stressing that she would guarantee the country's independence, control immigration and restore law and order.
Marine Le Pen, candidate for France's far-right National Alliance, attends a rally in Paris after the first round of voting in the presidential election on April 10. (Xinhua News Agency, photo by Ritter Ace)
An analytical article published in the French newspaper Le Monde pointed out that Macron and Le Pen will bring different futures to the French. Macron is a staunch promoter of European integration, using the EU as a pillar to get France out of trouble, economic growth and employment, while Le Pen emphasizes nationalism and France first. Although Le Pen abandoned the slogan of leaving the eurozone for the sake of campaign strategy, its campaign platform remained populist.
In an interview with french media before the election, Macron pointed out that far-right forces have taken advantage of the panic of French society in the new crown epidemic, geopolitics and ecological environment to expand their influence. He called on the French not to retreat to a completely closed social system for fear of "inequality" in society, arguing that France must follow the path of an open market economy.
Changes in the political ecology
In the 2017 French presidential election, French voters abandoned traditional left-right parties for the first time, sending Macron and Le Pen to the second round of showdowns. Five years later, the two will be in a decisive position, with the traditional left-wing big party losing the first round of voting, with the right-wing Republican candidate Valerie Pékrés receiving 4.9 percent of the vote and the left-wing Socialist Party candidate Anne Hidalgo receiving only about 1.7 percent of the vote. This shows that the political ecology in France has undergone profound changes.
At the same time, France's far-right electorate base is expanding. According to French news station BFMTV, Le Pen's 23.4 percent vote was higher than her 21.3 percent in the first round of the 2017 election. Two other far-right candidates, Zemour and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, received 7.3 percent and 1.8 percent of the vote, respectively, bringing the entire far-right camp nearly 30 percent of the vote, a record in French political history.
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a rally in Paris after the first round of voting in the presidential election on April 10. (Photo by Xinhua reporter Gao Jing)
The analysis article of Le Monde pointed out that judging from the election results, France has suffered from a long period of economic recession and high unemployment, and the tradition of alternately choosing a president from left-wing and right-wing parties has shifted to a choice between "progressiveism" and "populism". Le Figaro also pointed out in an editorial that left- and right-wing parties have disappeared in the final of the presidential election to give way to the "populist" camp, and this new political landscape may exist for a long time in the future.
After the preliminary results of the vote on the 10th, Méroncheon, Hidalgo and the French Communist Party candidate Fabian Russell all called on their supporters to "boycott the far right" in the second round of voting. Two far-right candidates, Zemur and Dupont-Aignan, called on their respective supporters to vote for Le Pen. A tit-for-tat showdown has begun.
Dominique Renée, a professor at Sciences Po in France, said that five years later, the "Macron-Le Pen" showdown has returned, "everything shows that we are not ushering in an ordinary election" and that the French will once again face a "historic choice". (Participating reporters: Liu Fang, Xu Yongchun, Xing Jianqiao, Sun Xinjing)