Emmanuel Macron, the candidate of the
\ncentrist En Marche movement, won the first round of the presidential elections
\nin France with almost 24% of the votes. In the second round on the 7th
\nof May, he will face the National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who won almost
\n22% of the votes. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
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For the European Union, which is following
\nthe crucial French elections with apprehension, Le Pen’s advance into the
\nsecond round is bad news, given her far-right and anti-European views. The good
\nnews is that both the traditional right and left in France will support Macron
\nin the second round. Both the candidate of the right wing and former prime
\nminister in Nicolas Sarkozy’s administration, Francois Fillon, and the
\ncandidate of the left, Benoit Hamon, said they would support Emmanuel Macron.
\nAlso, France’s biggest trade union called for a pro-Macron vote on the 7th
\nof May. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
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I want to be the president of
\npatriots against the threat of nationalists, said the young French politician
\nafter the polls closed. In one year, we have changed the face of French
\npolitics, he added, promising to be the voice of hope for France and Europe.
\nEurope’s biggest publications give him the biggest chance of winning to become
\nthe youngest president in France’s history. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Aged
\n39, Macron had a meteoric rise in French politics. Between 2014 and 2016, he
\nserved as economy minister in Francois Hollande’s administration, but remained
\npolitically unaffiliated, and has never run for public office before. As an
\neconomy minister, he drew criticism from the socialists due to his rather
\nright-wing, market-oriented measures. He resigned last year to be able to enter
\nthe presidential race as a representative of his own newly founded centrist
\nmovement, an entity somewhere between a political party and a grassroots
\nmovement. Macron is not an anti-system politician, but has styled himself as
\nsomeone coming from outside the system. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Coupled
\nwith the stinging defeat of the traditional left and right, the results point
\nto a change of paradigm in French politics. These elections also mark two
\npainful firsts for the mainstream French political system: it is for the first
\ntime in 60 years that the incumbent president has not run for reelection, and
\nalso for the first time that the candidates of the conservative right and the
\nsocialist left have not made it to the second round. After May 7th,
\nFrance will most probably remain a pillar of the European project, but
\nsomething fundamental in its internal political system will most likely change.
\n<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen advance to the second round of the French presidential elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":73152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[31669],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-73151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-france-elections"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n