Paris (AP) – French President Emmanuel Macron won a second term on Sunday, giving relief to allies that the nuclear force will not suddenly change course amid the war in Ukraine to punish and thwart EU attempts and NATO. Russia’s military expansion.
The 44-year-old centrist’s second five-year term protects France and Europe from a seismic uprising led by ardent populist Marine Le Pen, Macron’s second presidential candidate, who lost but still won his best election. .
Recognizing that “many” voters voted only to avoid the brutal far-right nationalist Le Pen, Macron vowed to unite a country “full of too many doubts, too many divisions” and would work to anger the French. Voters who inspired the Le Pen campaign.
“Nothing will be left on the road,” Macron said in a victory speech against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower and the blue and white-red French flag. It was greeted by several hundred supporters who happily waved the flags of France and the European Union.
“We have a lot to do and the war in Ukraine reminds us that we are going through tragic times when France needs to hear its voice,” Macron said.
During his campaign, Le Pen vowed to sever France’s ties with 27 countries, including the European Union, NATO and Germany, measures that would undermine Europe’s security architecture as the continent faces the worst fighting since the second world war. Le Pen also talked about Russia’s energy supply against EU sanctions and discussed during the campaign about his past friendship with the Kremlin.
The group of European leaders praised Macron’s success as France plays a leading role in international efforts to punish Russia with sanctions and arms supplies to Ukraine.
“Democracy has won, Europe has won,” said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
“Together we can advance France and Europe,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi called Macron’s victory “great news for the whole of Europe” and the EU’s incentive “as a key figure in the biggest challenges of our time, starting with the war in Ukraine”.
Macron won with 58.5% of the vote, while Le Pen won with 41.5%, which is closer than when they first met in 2017.
Macron was the first French president in 20 years to win re -election since Jacques Chirac defeated Le Pen’s father in 2002.
Le Pen called his result a “great success” and said that “in this defeat I could not help but feel the shape of hope”.
Violation of the 40% threshold for the French far right has not yet been done. Le Pen beat Macron by 66% to 34% in 2017, while his father got less than 20% against Chirac.
He and leftist leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, one of 10 candidates eliminated in the first round on April 10, both rushed to the French legislature on Sunday night in June and called on voters to give them a parliamentary majority to suspend. the Macron.
Le Pen’s point on this occasion rewarded his many years of working to make his far-right policies more enjoyable to voters. In a brutal campaign on household spending problems, he has penetrated deep into the blue in disgruntled rural communities and former industrial centers.
Jean-Marie Cornick, a 78-year-old Le Pen elector, said she voted for him because she wanted a president who puts “our daily lives-wages, taxes, pensions” first.
The decline in support for Macron from five years ago indicates that the president faces a difficult battle to mobilize the people behind him for a second term. Many French voters found the presidential reshuffle in 2022 less convincing than in 2017, when Macron was unknown.
Leftist voters – who do not identify with either the centrist president or Le Pen – were devastated by Sunday’s elections. Some are reluctant to go to the polls just to stop Le Pen and give the worst vote for Macron.
“It’s the least bad choice,” said Stephanie David, a transportation logistics officer who supported the Communist candidate in the first round.
It was an impossible choice for retired Jean-Pierre Rust. After voting for Communist in the first round, he threw an empty envelope in the ballot box on Sunday, rejected by Le Pen’s policies and Macron’s pride.
“I’m not opposed to his ideas, but I can’t stand this guy,” Rum said.
In contrast, Marianne Arbre, who runs in Paris, voted for Macron “to avoid a government that faces fascists and racists”.
“There is a real risk,” the 29-year-old complained.
Macron went to the polls as a favorite, but he had to deal with broken, anxious and tired voters. The war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic defeated Macron’s first term, as well as months of violent protests against his economic policies.
In celebration of the victory, Macron acknowledged the debt to voters who helped him push the line, “not to support the ideas I have, but to block the far right.”
“I want to thank them and tell them that I know they owe their voice for years to come,” he said. “I am a defender of their sense of duty, of their commitment to the Republic”.
Associated Press journalists Sylvie Corbett, Elaine Ganley, Angela Charlton and Thomas Adamson in Paris, Sam Petrekin in Brussels, Michelle Spingler in Henin-Beaumont and Alex Turnbull in Le Touquet.
Source: Huffpost
