Macron 2nd Term
By William Draycott
Assistant Editor-in-Chief
French President Emmanuel Macron won a second term on Sunday beating out Marine Le Pen for a second time making him the first two-term French President in 20 years.
The campaign was marred by the Russian Invasion of Ukraine that not only boosted Macron’s approval, but pushed Le Pen to distance herself from Putin whom she enjoys friendly relations with. Instead of the anti-immigration and Eurosceptic positions Le Pen held in her last campaign, this time she primarily focused on inflation and rising energy prices as a rejection of the status quo.
Macron’s campaign focused on promoting globalization and stronger ties to the European Union and NATO.
Voters first went to the polls on April 10th for the first round in which Macron from La République En Marche! won with 27.85% of the vote. Le Pen from the National Rally party came in second with 23.15% and Jean-Luc Mélenchon of La France Insoumise came in third with 21.95%, nearly advancing to the second round.
In the second round two weeks later, it was Mélenchon voters and other left wing candidate’s voters from the first round that pushed Macron to victory to win 58.54% of the vote, or 18,799,641 votes. Le Pen won 41.46% of the vote, or 13,297,760 votes.
Le Pen performed significantly better, gaining in nearly every department. She won 21 departments from two in 2017. Most surprising was her performance in the Overseas Territories in which she picked up seven territories from none in 2017.
In light of the strengthening opposition, Macron, in his victory speech, vowed to be the “president for each and every one of you” and said that his second term “would not be a continuation of his first”.