Press. voanews.com
Voters in France
have elected centrist Emmanuel Macron president, rejecting the anti-EU,
anti-immigrant policies of rival Marine Le Pen. Preliminary results released
after polls closed showed Macron won 65.2 percent support, compared to Le Pen's
34.8 percent.
“A new page of
our long history is turning tonight,” Macron told supporters Sunday following a
bruising campaign in an election driven by anti-establishment sentiments – the
first in modern history in which mainstream parties were shut out of a French
presidential race.
“I want it to be
a page of hope and renewed trust. The renewal of our political life will begin
as early as tomorrow. The moralization of our political life, acknowledging its
plurality and our democratic vitality will be at the heart of my action from
day one,” Macron said.
Contentious
campaign
Sunday
culminated a presidential election campaign that many French considered the
country's most acrimonious and contentious in recent memory. Concession by
Marine Le Pen came quickly on Sunday, but she vowed to fight on with efforts to
mobilize voters in her crusade against globalism and a liberal immigration
policy that has allowed for France’s Muslim minority to grow.
“I have called
Macron because I have the best interests of France in mind and I wanted to wish
him the very best,” she told supporters on Sunday. “I call on all patriots to
join us to take part in the decisive political fight that is starting tonight.
More than ever in the forthcoming months, France will need you.”
U.S. President
Donald Trump reacted on Twitter to the results of the French presidential
election, congratulating Macron on a "big win" and saying he very
much looks forward to working with him.
Surveys heading
into Sunday predicted that Macron would win the election with a solid lead over
Le Pen. There was little surprise, but much relief among his supporters, who
filled the main courtyard of the Louvre Museum for a celebration.
“I feared Marine
Le Pen because she sowed division in this country,” said Frank Kamandoko, a
reveler waving a large French flag at the Louvre Sunday night. “That is why I
had no choice but to support Emmanuel Macron,” said Kamandoko, a French citizen
originally from the Central African Republic.
At 39, Macron a
former banker and economy minister, becomes France’s youngest president. He is
pro-EU but wants reforms to make the grouping more democratic, and has warned
that continuing business as usual with the European Union will trigger a
Frexit, or a French exit similar to Britain’s.
France’s deep
divisions were clear in a final, vicious debate in which the anger, bitterness
and personal dislike between the two candidates were on display when the two
traded insults at their final debate last week, something observers say hurt Le
Pen’s numbers.
‘What is his
plan?’
“I am sick of
this campaign,” said voter Jasmine Youssi after being among the first to cast
ballots at a polling station in the 12th district of Paris. “It is the first
time there has been such an aggressive campaign. It was repetitive. I stopped
watching TV because it would make me sick. I am so glad it is over,” she told
VOA.
Turnout was less
than expected, with voter disgust and anger causing many to abstain or submit
blank ballots. French officials say 4 million abstained. Still, many braved the
rain in Paris and turned out steadily throughout the day. On Paris streets, posters
of Macron and Le Pen were pasted side by side, both often defaced with Macron’s
nose cut out and Le Pen’s eyes scribbled over.
“It says that
the people are for neither one nor the other. The French are in distress,” said
voter Brigitte Levoir as she glanced at posters outside a polling station in
the Paris suburb of Drancy. “We could perhaps be afraid of Le Pen, but we
should be afraid of Macron as well. What is his plan? He has none. We should be
afraid of them both. I want De Gaulle to come back to the world and establish
some order,” she told VOA.
“The majority of
French people are afraid of Marine Le Pen, are afraid of the far right,” said
Eric Dupin, a political analyst in Paris. “If they get to power, they will grow
divisions in French society in a very dangerous way with the risk of violence.
So, in a reasonable way, the French voted Macron against Marine Le Pen,” he
told VOA. The vote was historic, and seen by many as a turning point in French
politics.
France voted for
change, but not revolution.
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