Macron, 44, won again.
At 8 p.m. local time on April 24, the preliminary forecast results of the French National Investigation Agency showed that in the second round of voting in the French presidential election held on the same day, the current French President Macron defeated Marina Le Pen, the candidate of the far-right party "National Union", with 58.2% of the vote, and successfully won re-election. Le Pen expects 41.8 percent of the vote.
Macron is the first French president to win re-election since 2002. He will begin another five-year term, allowing him to remain in power until 2027.
The first French president to be re-elected in 20 years
Macron's victory in this presidential election is not surprising. Until then, almost all pollsters had predicted macron would win.
Tian Dewen, an expert on European issues at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with the Beijing News that the main reason why Macron can win the election may be that the French cannot accept a far-right leader.
"Many voters may not have voted for Macron in the first round of voting, but in order to avoid Le Pen coming to power, they will go out and vote for Macron in the second round." Tian Dewen pointed out.
On April 24, 2022, local time, in Le Toucé, Gales Province, France, the French president and his wife Brigitte appeared in the local area to participate in the second round of voting in the French presidential election. Figure/IC photo
It is worth noting that in the second round of voting this year, Macron's lead over Le Pen has narrowed somewhat. In the 2017 presidential election, Macron defeated Le Pen with 66.1% to 33.9% of the vote. But five years later, Macron's second round of votes dropped to 58.2 percent.
In this regard, Tian Dewen believes that this is mainly because in the 2017 general election, all the losing candidates after the first round of voting called on supporters to vote for Macron. But after the first round of voting in this election, candidates such as Méronnchon did not call on supporters to vote for Macron, but only said not to vote for Le Pen. In addition, Tian Dewen pointed out that this also reflects that many French people are not satisfied with Macron's performance in his first term.
In a way, this is also a dilemma facing Macron. In 2017, the 39-year-old Macron became the youngest president in the history of the French Fifth Republic as a "reformer", promising to bring change, confidence and strength to France.
Over the past five years, Macron has taken many socio-economic reforms and achieved some results, such as the unemployment rate in France falling to the lowest level in more than a decade, and the French economic growth reaching the highest value in more than half a century.
However, because the reforms were too hasty and failed to balance the interests of various groups in France, Macron was dubbed the "president of the rich", and many French criticized him for being too arrogant and always on top, and he did not bring about change in France. His first term was almost rife with protests, pandemics, and rising costs of living.
French civil servant Pascal Pauloin, 56, voted for Le Pen. He told Reuters, "To be honest, I'm disappointed. For many years, our country has not functioned well enough. Macron is doing nothing for the middle class, and the gap between rich and poor is getting bigger and bigger."
But there are also many French people who believe that macron is suitable for re-election in the current situation. Andree Loeuillet, a 69-year-old retiree, told Reuters that "he (Macron) has his shortcomings, but he also has his strengths." He's the best person to stay president because we're in a tough time."
Le Pen, who lost three battles and three defeats in ten years
This is Le Pen's third candidacy in 10 years and the third time he has failed.
In fact, many pollsters have said that the French presidential election is Le Pen's closest to the presidency. In the weeks leading up to the first round of voting, Le Pen's poll support continued to rise, while Macron's support continued to fall. At the time, some polling data showed that Le Pen's gap against Macron after entering the second round was within the margin of error, and she was likely to win the election.
But the end result disappointed her again.
On April 24, 2022, local time, in Hernam-Beaumont, Gale-barred Province, France, Marina Le Pen, a far-right candidate for the French presidential election, appeared at a local polling station to participate in the second round of voting in the general election. Figure/IC photo
Born into a political family, Le Pen had long dream of becoming France's first female president. The younger daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, former president and founder of the far-right National Front (the predecessor of the National Union), Le Pen took over her father in 2011 as the new leader of the National Front.
A year later, Le Pen, 43, ran for president for the first time. Still young, she struggled to qualify for the race and climbed to third place in the first round of voting in that year's presidential election. But only the top two candidates made it to the second round, and Le Pen lost the first battle.
In 2017, Le Pen regrouped and ran again. At that time, the wave of populism in Europe and the United States was surging and Le Pen had hoped to use this "east wind" to enter the Elysee Palace, but the 39-year-old Macron broke into the "dark horse" posture and shattered her presidential dream. Le Pen entered the second round of voting, but ultimately lost to Macron.
In 2022, Le Pen fought three times. Peng Shuyi, a researcher at the European Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, previously pointed out to the Beijing News reporter that Le Pen made full preparations for this candidacy. She changed the focus of her campaign to focus on issues such as purchasing power that French voters are most concerned about; she softened her attitude on some issues and worked to create a more moderate, rational image.
However, the history of 5 years ago is repeated – she and Macron entered the second round of voting together, but eventually lost to Macron.
"There has been a phenomenon in recent general elections in France in which votes were cast for another candidate to avoid a far-right candidate coming to power." Peng said that many French voters may not like Macron, but they do not think he will be a danger. However, as a far-right candidate, many people believe that the racist, xenophobic, anti-European integration ideas she represents are regressive and contrary to the trend, and therefore will not support her as president.
In fact, many Western media said that if Le Pen was elected, it would mean a "political earthquake". Reuters said that if Le Pen is elected, she will make radical changes to France's domestic and foreign policies, which will threaten the future of the EUROPEAN Union.
Earlier, the leaders of Germany, Spain, Portugal and other countries jointly published articles in a number of European newspapers, calling on the French people to vote for Macron instead of Le Pen.
Macron's second term was challenging
The French presidential elections are directly elected and are held every 5 years.
The general election is based on a two-round voting system, if a candidate obtains more than half of the votes in the first round of voting, he will be directly elected, and if no one receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates will enter the second round of voting. In the second round of balloting, the candidate with the highest percentage of votes won.
On April 24, 2022, local time, Paris, France, the second round of voting in the French presidential election began, and local voters went to the polling station to participate in the voting, the picture shows the poster of the French President Macron campaign posted on the street. Figure/IC photo
In the first round of voting on April 10, Macron came first with 27.85 percent of the vote, followed by Le Pen with 23.15 percent of the vote.
The far-left candidate, Mélang-šol-sur-Merlin from "indomitable France," came in third, with 21.95 percent of the vote. In fourth place is zemour, the far-right party's "Recover lost ground" candidate, who received 7.07% of the vote.
Tian Dewen believes that the French election reflects a prominent feature of French politics, that is, the French people's acceptance of radical politics is increasing. "As can be seen from the results of the first round of voting, the top four, with the exception of Macron, all belong to the far left and right. Le Pen and Zemur are on the far right, and Méranchen is on the far left. They all got quite high votes. ”
In contrast, the decline of traditional political parties in France is obvious. The president of the Paris Regional Council, Pécles, a traditional right-wing party and the French Republican presidential candidate, received only 4.79% of the vote in the first round; the presidential candidate of the traditional center-left French Socialist Party, The Mayor of Paris Hidalgo, received as little as 1.74% of the vote.
Peng Shuyi pointed out that the increase in the number of votes of far-right and far-left parties will bring more challenges to Macron's next term, that is, how to heal the political and social rifts that are becoming more and more divided in the country, and take into account the demands of a large number of ultra-left and far-right voters in the future administration, such as concerns about environmental issues, immigration issues, and public security issues. "Ignoring these demands, the dissatisfaction with Macron in French society will rise, and many of his policies will be difficult to continue."
Reuters said Macron would face a tougher second term, not only would he no longer have the "honeymoon period" he enjoyed earlier in his first term, but he would also face greater opposition, especially against his socio-economic reform initiatives, including raising the retirement age to 65.
A number of experts said in an interview with the Beijing News reporter that Macron will still give priority to solving domestic problems in his second term, such as rising prices and declining purchasing power. At the same time, he needs to continue to push forward with his socio-economic reforms, deal with immigration problems caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, energy crisis, etc., and avoid a return to recession in the French economy. In terms of external affairs, Macron must first deal with the challenges brought about by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and at the same time continue to promote European strategic autonomy and energy autonomy.
In addition, France will usher in parliamentary elections in June. For Macron, who has just experienced the "big test", whether he can get the majority support in the parliament will greatly affect his administration for the next five years.
Beijing News reporter Xie Lian
Edited by Zhang Lei, Proofread by Jia Ning