Emmanuel Macron has won a 2nd term as President of France against Marine Le Pen. CNBC. Macron got about 58% of the vote compared to Le Pen's 41% in an election that had widespread disinterest from voters. Compared to 2017 2% fewer voters participated in the 2nd round of elections. Macron ran as a pro-EU centrist while Le Pen softened her right wing views and focused on the economy. Macron is the first French president to win a 2nd term in more than two decades.
My Comment:
As expected Macron won a 2nd term. There was some hope that Le Pen would overcome her name but it didn't happen. Le Pen has lost three times now and I think it is long past time to replace her as the presidential candidates. She has always been hampered by her father, who was credibly accused of racism, and even though people shouldn't judge people based on their families, she always has been. From what I understand she also did pretty terrible in her debate against Macron, which probably didn't help things.
It also seemed like neither candidate really excited people. Turnout was low and was even less than 2017. People didn't really like either candidate. Macron is a smarmy globalist and Le Pen is a black hole of charisma who is tainted by her family. Both the far left and far right had better candidates to support and once they were eliminated neither side wanted to vote for the lesser evil.
I think for France this is essentially status quo ante. I don't think Macron will go too nuts after being reelected, he does have to worry about parliamentary elections. But he will still be doing things I disagree with, like sending aid to Ukraine and strengthening the EU. But I do think that Macron has moved closer to the center compared to his first term. Time will tell if that was just a ploy for reelection or if he really is more centrist.
I don't put too much stock into reports that riots have broken out due to the results of the elections. France's national sport is to riot and it would be more surprising if they didn't riot. I don't expect anything to come from this, just like nothing much happened from the Yellow Vests protests.
One major problem for Le Pen was that one of her signature issues, Islamic terrorism, is no longer the hot button issue it once was. France still has major problem with their Islamic population but ever since ISIS was destroyed it's no longer a salient issue. I think the people of France were foolish to ignore the issue and will pay a high cost for it in the future.
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