Macron struggles with extreme right-wing Le Pen
French President Emmanuel Macron took the first place in the first round of the French presidential election held on the 10th, but there are predictions that victory cannot be guaranteed in the final two weeks later. This is because Marine Le Pen, the candidate of the far-right National Coalition, who finished second, does not slow down the reins in the pursuit while focusing on issues of livelihood, and unlike five years ago, the atmosphere of 'anti-far-right solidarity' between the left and right political forces has weakened.
France's Interior Ministry announced on the morning of the 11th that 97% of the votes were counted in the first round of the French presidential election, and Macron was ranked first with 27.6% of the votes. Candidate Le Pen came in second place with 23.4%, and far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melanchon took third place with 21.95% of the votes. Accordingly, the presidential runoff on the 24th will be held in a confrontation between Macron and Le Pen. The two faced each other in the final vote in 2017, and at that time, Macron easily won 66.1% of Le Pen (33.9% of the votes).
However, this runoff is expected to be a close match as the situation is completely different from that of five years ago.
broadcast, etc. The broadcaster said that Macron's vote rate in the first round of voting was 3 percentage points higher than that of the first voting five years ago, but it was far from a festive atmosphere. President Macron said to his supporters, "Don't get me wrong. Nothing has been decided yet.”
According to the French Opinion Research Institute, an opinion polling agency, Macron is expected to lead Le Pen by just 2 percentage points in the runoff with 51% of the vote. Ipsos' survey showed that the gap between the two would widen further to 54:46.
Political analysts pointed to the fact that, for reasons completely different from the situation five years ago, the movement of the center-right forces to block the far-right forces did not have a significant impact on voters as the traditional center-left and right-wing collapsed. The traditional right Republican candidate, Valery Pekres, won only 4.7 percent in the first round, and the traditional left Socialist Party candidate An Hidalgo got only 1.7 percent. Both candidates declared their support for Macron in the runoff.
The outcome of the runoff will depend on whether Macron can find a way to win the disappointing left and centrist votes over the next two weeks, experts said. Lea Druet, a 20-year-old woman who was a supporter of melanchon
"Macron's politics have strengthened the far-right," he told the news agency, adding that he voted for Macron in the last run-off, but this time he would abstain