Why do the results of the first round of the French elections seem more complex for Macron?
Politico in its extensive article attempts to summarize the five conclusions of the electoral battle, as it is formulated. Despite the fact that Emanuel Macron’s first victory was achieved, a more intense clash with Marie Le Pen is predicted in the second round as the latter looks forward to the support of voters from the far right Eric Zemour, who has already called on his supporters to support her on the 24th.
“Key role” … due to his absence, it is estimated that the Left candidate Jean-Luc Melanson will also play, who, although he did not pass to the second round, did much better than expected and his voters come from different political tanks.
1. Macron and Le Pen dominate the French political scene
The resumption of the second round of the 2017 elections in France confirms that the gap between the left and the right no longer prevails in the country, but has been replaced by a dipole of pro-European and open to outside politics on the one hand, and nationalists on the other.
Both Macron and Lepen garnered more votes than they did five years ago, leaving the traditional right and left in an even more volatile position.
Macron rose from 24% in the first round of 2017 to 27.6% and Lepen from 21.3% to 23.4%.
The gap between them, however, is now bigger and is reflected in the fact that Macron managed to get the most votes despite the controversy in the last kilometer of the campaign, including the excessive use of consulting companies at government expense.
2. Zemour is not the new Trump
The far-right Eric Zemour, a 63-year-old TV star who decided to become a politician, despite coming out second behind Macron in some polls in October, had a dizzying drop in rates due to a significant lack of credibility. the war in Ukraine, when he referred to his past comments praising Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Despite their tough battles throughout the election campaign, Zemour quickly backed Le Pen. “I have a disagreement with Marie Le Pen,” he said in a speech on Sunday, “but the man who is Le Pen’s opponent let two million immigrants in. So it would be worse if he was re-elected. That is why I call on my constituents to vote for Marie Le Pen. “
3. Melanson, the last Left ζει surprises
Jean-Luc Melanson, who came out strong in this election, coming in third with about 22% of the vote, managed to get the most votes from the left in the country. It is the biggest surprise of the first round, since, although the polls continued to show its upward trend in recent weeks, no one expected to get so close to Lepen.
In recent weeks, he went to the polls and finally took advantage of the fact that he is considered the only viable candidate on the left.
His voters are expected to play a key role in the second round. “You must not vote for Mrs Lepen,” he repeated three times during his speech on Sunday.
However, opinion polls suggest that almost half of Melanson’s voters will abstain in the second round, while the rest are expected to split between Macron and Le Pen.
4. THE old political scene is dead
This presidential election completed what Macron started in 2017: The former ruling parties in France are “dead” permanently and it is difficult to predict how they could recover.
Indicative of this is the fact that Valerie Pekres, who represented the Conservatives below 5%
As for the socialist mayor of Paris, Ann Indalgo, she could not reach even 2%. This is three times less than the already historically low turnout of the Socialist candidate, Benoit Amon, in 2017.
5. Abstention less than expected
Abstention rates were certainly high, but not as high as expected. Abstention is estimated at about 26% by Ipsos. The percentage is higher than in 2017, when 77% of eligible voters voted and 23% stayed home.
However, the abstinence rate is lower than in 2002. Two decades ago, almost 28.5% of French people decided to stay at home, which helped Marie-Lepen, Marie’s father, move to second round.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news
