Paris Emmanuel Macron wasted no time after the first round of the French presidential election: On Monday, the incumbent made his way to the north of the country, one of the strongholds of right-wing populist Marine Le Pen, who, like in 2017, is his opponent in the runoff election.
Macron’s destinations are Denain, Carvin and Lens. Here Le Pen achieved a share of the vote of around 40 percent. Macron struggled in this region to even get to 20 percent.
Macron’s Minister for Europe, Clément Beaune, told the news channel LCI on Monday: “This is an area where there is a sense of economic decline in the air, a sense of neglect, the spirit of deindustrialization is blowing here.”
Macron plans to continue his mission on Le Pen’s territory on Tuesday. Then it’s off to eastern France, where the Rassemblement National also did well. And there are also many cities here that are struggling with structural change.
The president on Sunday won the first round of voting that will decide which two candidates will face off in the runoff two weeks later on April 24. Nationwide, Macron received almost 28 percent of the vote. That was a little better than recent surveys suggested.
Result a red flag for Macron
Still, the result is a wake-up call. On the evening of the election, the President warned his supporters that nothing had been decided. “The debate we will have in the coming days is crucial for our country and for Europe,” he said. In the second ballot, it is now a matter of erecting a “bulwark against the extreme right”.
Macron’s strategy is to encourage the left electorate to form an alliance against the far right and to win back disappointed citizens. Le Pen, who gained a good 23 percent on Sunday, is trying to forge a national anti-Macron coalition and benefit from dissatisfaction with the president. A key role will be played by the supporters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who, with around 22 percent, missed qualifying for the run-off just behind Le Pen.
After his defeat, the left-wing candidate called on his supporters not to vote for Marine Le Pen in the second round.
(Photo: Reuters)
As late as Sunday evening, the Socialist, conservative-bourgeois Republican, Green and Communist candidates announced that they would vote for Macron in the runoff.
Mélenchon, on the other hand, made no direct recommendation for the president, but warned his constituents: “We must not give a single vote to Ms. Le Pen.”
However, it is unclear whether all followers will actually follow him. Because Le Pen has changed in recent years. Not only did she change the name of her party from Front National to Rassemblement National. The right-wing populist also tried to create a softer image and focused on being close to the people. In the environment of Le Pen, the strategy is called “devilation”.
Of the losing candidates for the presidency, only right-wing nationalist Éric Zemmour called for Le Pen to be elected. Zemmour’s shrill warnings about foreign infiltration during the election campaign also helped make the right-wing populist appear more moderate. Five years ago, Macron defeated Le Pen in the runoff election by 66 percent to 34 percent.
Polls are pointing to a much tighter duel this year. Macron started his first term in office with great enthusiasm for reform, but higher taxes on petrol and diesel then led to the protests of the yellow vest movement in autumn 2018. The second half of his mandate was marked by crises, first the pandemic and then the war in Ukraine.
Le Pen scores particularly well with those citizens who perceive Macron as the aloof president of the elite. The head of state was forgiving on the evening of the election: “I would like to shake hands with those who want to work for France.” From his camp, it was said that all voters who had voted for other candidates must now be convinced – and in particular the supporters of Mélenchon.
Macron unpopular with left-wing populists
But the president faces a major balancing act: Not only is Macron particularly unpopular with Mélenchon supporters, his economic policy ideas also differ fundamentally from the anti-capitalist course of the left-wing populist. During the election campaign, Mélenchon criticized Macron’s plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 65. Instead, he had promised to lower it to 60.
After his sparse campaign because of the Ukraine war, Macron is now throwing himself into the battle full of domestic political issues – also because the crisis manager Macron’s Russia bonus didn’t really work in the first ballot. On the other hand, Le Pen’s proximity to Russian President Vladimir Putin did not appear to have harmed her either.
Macron also sets the goal of achieving full employment in France by 2027; at the same time he promises state investments and tax cuts. And he dedicates himself extensively to the concerns of his compatriots about rising consumer prices.
Le Pen made the issue of purchasing power the core of her election campaign months ago. She titled her election brochure “President Marine” and speaks of a “stateswoman” in contrast to the statesman Macron. In order to increase purchasing power, she wants to lower taxes on energy.
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She also wants to lower inheritance taxes and provide financial support to companies that want to increase the wages of their employees. She wants to keep the retirement age at 62 and even lower it to 60 for long-term employees. She also promises to limit immigration, especially family reunification. Foreign offenders are to be deported more quickly, and only the French are entitled to social benefits.
In terms of foreign policy in particular, a President Le Pen could bring about major changes in France. Unlike in 2017, she no longer wants to leave the EU, the euro or the Schengen area. But she continues to reject the alleged “dictatorship from Brussels”, advocates a “Europe of Nations” and wants to renegotiate EU treaties. In doing so, she is likely to seek solidarity with other right-wing governments such as that of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
She condemned Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine, although in the past she had repeatedly shown her close ties to the Kremlin and regularly stressed that she wanted to lead France out of NATO. She also had her 2017 election campaign financed by a Russian bank, and before the election she visited Putin in the Kremlin in a powerful way.
Macron’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, warned on Monday that people had a choice between an “ally of Vladimir Putin” and a president who had strengthened France’s influence in Europe.
Marine Le Pen is close to the people and tries to shed her radical image. Those around you call the strategy “devilation”.
(Photo: IMAGO/PanoramaC)
There are also major differences to Macron in the fight against climate change: Le Pen, like the President, relies on nuclear power, but concedes nuclear energy to be much more important. On the other hand, she wants to block projects for wind and solar energy systems.
She also rejects long-term, fixed reduction targets for CO2 emissions. Instead, the targets should be adjusted each year, depending on the reductions in emissions in other countries and the “quality of life” of the French.
After the first ballot, Le Pen encouraged “all those who didn’t vote for Emmanuel Macron today” to support her. “What is at stake on April 24 is not a choice of circumstances, but a choice for society, a choice for civilization,” she said.
She immediately sent out her program for the next few days. First of all, a meeting with the party leaders for advice was planned on Monday. Numerous television interviews are also planned, as well as a press conference on Tuesday. On Thursday there will be a big campaign meeting in Avignon in southern France.
Unlike before the first round, Macron and Le Pen will also face each other directly: on April 20, a televised duel between the two candidates will take place.
More: This is how Europe is reacting to the outcome of the first round of elections in France