Having come to power five years ago “by breaking and entering”, according to his own words, Emmanuel Macron was re-elected on Sunday as President of the Republic with 57.6 to 58.5% of the votes against Marine Le Pen (41.5-42.4%) according to the first estimates, a clear victory tempered by the notably close gap with the far right and a high abstention (28%).
A long-time favorite to succeed himself, Emmanuel Macron, at only 44 years of age, becomes the first incumbent president to be re-elected outside of the cohabitation period, since the adoption of direct universal suffrage in 1962.
Emmanuel Macron said from the Champ-de-Mars, in Paris, that the voters “chose a humanist project, ambitious for the independence of our country, for our Europe. According to him, the French have chosen “a republican project in its values, a social and ecological project, a project based on work and creation, a project of liberation of our academic, cultural and entrepreneurial forces.
The real president says he wants to carry his project “with strength for the years to come, while also being the guardian of the divisions that have been expressed and the differences, while ensuring each day that everyone is respected and continuing to work for a fairer society and for equality between women and men.
The president-candidate has already promised to renew himself in depth, both in form and in substance. A necessity at the head of a France cut in two, even in three with regard to the number of voters among the 48.7 million called to the polls who chose to sulk the polling booths on Sunday, in this remake of 2017 organized while the three school zones are on vacation.
The candidate of the National Rally, who had gathered 33.9% of the votes in 2017, is progressing significantly at the end of a long and uneven campaign. Ms. Le Pen, who has relied heavily on purchasing power to stand out, will have managed to smooth her image, without giving up anything to the radicalism of her project on immigration or security.
Above all, the legislative elections (June 12 and 19) are on the horizon, during which the head of state will try to maintain his majority, with deputies from La République en marche, the Modem and other partners.
It’s time for Marine Le Pen to take stock
For Marine Le Pen, it is time to take stock after a third failure in the race for the Elysée. Marine Le Pen has made it clear that she is not retiring from politics and that she intends to carry the campaign for the legislative elections, calling on the French to vote for RN candidates on June 12 and 19. Eric Zemmour also launched an appeal to Marine Le Pen for a “union of patriots” for these elections. Jean-Luc Mélenchon also took the floor to indicate that he was now actively engaged in the legislative elections.
“It is difficult to recover from a third defeat” but “in the landscape of opposition very fragmented today (…) Marine Le Pen occupies with the National Rally the dominant position and it will remain the chief opponent,” anticipated the political scientist Pascal Perrineau Friday on Public Sénat.
