Macron wins election, but France’s far-right has gotten record support
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France’s far-right party ‘Rassemblement National’ leader, Marine Le Pen.
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French President Emmanuel MacronAlthough he may just have won another term, political analysts predict that the rise of far-right in the next few years will give him serious headaches.
“The real closeness and relative proximity of the votes, along with the fact that [Marine]Le Pen won more than 40%. This is an indictment about the French political system and maybe the level of inequality across Europe,” Julian Howard (head of multi-asset solutions for asset management company GAM) told CNBC’s Monday’s Squawk Box Europe.
Centrist Macron obtained 58.54% of the votesHis far-right nationalist opponent Le Pen won 41.46% on Sunday. When the French president disputed round two of their election, Macron received 66.1%, while Le Pen got 33.9%.
Le Pen, speaking to her Parisian supporters on Sunday evening, conceded defeat and said that “we have nonetheless been victorious.”
“The ideas we represent are reaching a peak,” she added, while mentioning that in upcoming legislative elections in June, her party — National Rally — will be a “true opposition” to Macron and France’s political establishment.
France’s president is considered the most powerful figure in the country. However, Macron’s ability to pass new laws and face difficult roadblocks will determine whether he can achieve his pro-business agenda.
Macron stated Sunday that unification France is one of his challenges in the second term.
Le Pen’s election results, which included a large number of voters from the working classes and victory in many suburban and rural districts, shows the deep divisions that exist in French society, Mujtaba Rahamman, the managing director of consultancy Eurasia Group said in a Sunday note.
Le Pen’s performance at the 2022 elections was helped by the change of tone made by the far right leader. Analysts have noticed that she has become more moderate, and she is now less focused on immigration and not rallying against European integration. Le Pen instead spoke out about rising inflation and the lower purchasing power of French citizens.
An unsound score card
Sunday’s vote was the third successive time Le Pen failed to win France’s presidency.
She took over from her father the party in 2011 when it was called National Front. In 2012, 2017, and now in 2022, she is running for the highest office. In 2017 and 2018, she reached the second round in the French presidential election.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, her father, stunned many. But he lost to incumbent Jacques Chirac by a landslide.
However, Le Pen may have trouble surviving five more years as the principal standard bearer for the French far-right. She and her party, National Rally, will now face a renewed challenge from Eric Zemmour and her own niece, Marion Maréchal,” Rahman said in the same note.
Eric ZemmourFrench far-right and anti-immigration politician, “” was another new name in this year’s French political scene. His performance in the first round of the 2022 vote was weaker than pollsters had initially estimated, with some political analysts pointing to his more aggressive stance — notably toward Ukrainian refugees — as one of the reasons.
Marion Maréchal, Le Pen’s niece, spoke out in support of Zemmour during this campaign.
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