Voters in France have comprehensively snubbed the country’s political establishment, sending far-right populist Marine Le Pen and political novice Emmanuel Macron through to the second round of the country’s presidential election.
With 97% of polling stations declared, newcomer Macron was leading the field with 23.9%. National Front leader Le Pen was close behind on 21.4%.
The result upended traditional French politics: Neither candidate hails from the establishment parties that have dominated the country for decades.
It was a stunning victory for Macron, 39, a former investment banker who has never before stood for elected office and now becomes the favorite to become France’s next President. “We did it,” he told jubilant supporters.
It was also a success for Le Pen, who has spent years attempting to rid the Front National of the toxic legacy of her father. “It is time to free French people from arrogant elites … I am the people’s candidate,” she declared. But it was not the comprehensive breakthrough for the far right that some had predicted.
Macron remains the frontrunner, and the markets moved to reflect that. The euro jumped against the dollar to its highest level since November as investors bet that the chances of Le Pen winning power were fading. Stocks got a lift too — futures markets indicated gains of more than 0.5% for the main Dow Jones and S&P indexes.
Political sea change
The result mirrored others — such as the British vote to leave the European Union and the US election of Donald Trump — where voters have rejected traditional elites. “It’s a political earthquake in this country and in Europe,” veteran French journalist Christine Ockrent told CNN.
Scandal-hit conservative François Fillon and far-left wildcard Jean-Luc Mélenchon trailed in third place and were knocked out of the closely-fought race. Le Pen and Macron are now set to face each other in a runoff election on May 7.
Speaking in Henin-Beaumont, a Front National stronghold in northern France, Le Pen rallied her supporters to her anti-immigration, anti-European Union message.
“The French people must seize this opportunity, because the enormous challenge of this election is the wild globalization that puts our civilization at risk,” Le Pen said.
“Either we continue to disintegrate without any borders, without any controls, unfair international competition, mass immigration and the free circulation of terrorists, or you choose France with borders,” she added.
Her advancement to the second round is not without precedent — her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, made it to a runoff against the then-incumbent Jacques Chirac in 2002, only to suffer a devastating loss when anti-extremist voters rallied against the National Front leader.
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Novice victory
A huge cheer went up at Macron’s campaign headquarters as news of the results came through. “France’s political map is tonight redrawn,” said CNN’s Melissa Bell, who was at the scene.
“Macron’s is a remarkable achievement, because he represents optimism,” Ockrent said.
As his supporters waved Tricolour flags, and those of the EU, Macron told a rally in Paris he would carry “the voice of hope that we want for our country and for Europe,” into the second round.
“The two political parties that have governed France for years have been discarded,” he said.
“The deep … feeling which has led our people to love our country and overcome its divisions is spectacular,” he said. “You have shown that the hope of our country was not a dream but a relentless and benevolent will.”
Tight security
Sunday’s first round contest was held under tight security after a terror attack in Paris Thursday night disrupted the final day of campaigning Friday.
By 5 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET) 69.42% of France’s 47 million registered voters had cast their ballots, according to the Interior Ministry — a marginally lower turnout than at the same point in 2012.
With 11 names on the ballot, no single candidate had been expected to win an outright majority; instead the top two candidates will face a second and final ballot on May 7.
The incumbent President, socialist François Hollande, whose approval ratings have remained in the doldrums for several years, made the unusual decision not to run for a second term.
CNN
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