The center held, for now, but it’s clearly sagging as voters stayed home in droves
in the French presidential election despite widespread political discontent leading to the lowest turnout in more than half a century.
Macron, who will continue to lead the European Union’s second-largest economy and lone nuclear power for another five years, is only the third French president to be re-elected during the Fifth Republic, which began in 1958. Le Pen, who had pledged to hold a referendum on immigration, ban the Muslim headscarf from public places, withdraw from NATO and oppose an embargo on Russian oil and gas, gained the highest-ever vote share for the far right.
“The high abstention is very concerning,” says Isabelle Le Breton-Falézan, a lecturer in French political science at the Sorbonne University. “In 2017, Macron was seen as optimistic, a new promise, a disruptor. That’s not the case any more. This represents a rejection of both candidates and not a vote of support for Macron. His legitimacy might be questioned.”
While the French economy has performed impressively through the pandemic, voters have been unhappy with Macron's increasingly right-wing and pro-business agenda, including tax cuts for businesses and the highest earners and policies that critics said targeted Muslims and opened up space for the far right in French politics.
But analysts say despite his victory on Sunday Macron faces significant obstacles in obtaining sufficient support in the National Assembly elections in June to be able to govern effectively, and will face a country where only a minority enthusiastically support his liberal internationalist outlook. In the first round of the election, nearly 60% of voters supported candidates of the far right or far left.
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