Five more years. This is the first time in twenty years (when Jacques Chirac beat Jean-Marie Le Pen) that an outgoing president has been re-elected. Emmanuel Macron won the second round of the presidential election, Sunday April 24, against Marine Le Pen. With abstention close to the 1969 record and a far-right candidate at more than 41%, the election draws a different political landscape from the previous one in 2017. Here is what we can learn from this second round.
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Abstention at its highest for 50 years
Abstention stood at 28.2%, according to the estimate of Ipsos-Sopra Steria for France Télévisions, Radio France, France 24, the parliamentary channels and The Parisian. This is almost two points more than in the first round (26.31%). Above all, it is an increase of almost 2.8 points compared to 2017, when it reached 25.44%.
>> Find all the results of the second round of the presidential election
Since 2007, abstention in successive presidential elections has steadily increased. You have to go back half a century to find such a level. The record for a second round dates back to 1969, when 31.15% of voters did not go to the polls, when Georges Pompidou won against Alain Poher.
If this rate of abstention is high, the presidential election nevertheless mobilizes more than the other polls. In 2021, in a context of health crisis, the second round of regional elections saw abstention reach 65.31%, or nearly two out of three voters.
Re-elected, Emmanuel Macron promises a “refounded method” to be “the president of all”
Emmanuel Macron was elected for a second term with 58.8% of the vote, according to the estimate of Ipsos-Sopra Steria, with around 16 points ahead of Marine Le Pen. The outgoing president is doing less well than five years ago, when he totaled 66.1% of the vote. He can nevertheless boast of having been renewed outside the period of cohabitation, unlike François Mitterrand (re-elected in 1988) and Jacques Chirac (re-elected in 2002). A feat that General de Gaulle had achieved in 1965 (but his first election in 1958 had not been the result of direct universal suffrage).
With you. For you. For all of us.https://t.co/lA5u4Sv82Q
—Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 24, 2022
Arrived on foot with Brigitte Macron and a dozen children on the Champ-de-Mars, where he had made an appointment with his supporters, the President of the Republic first thanked his voters. “I want to thank all the French men and women who, in the first and then in the second round, placed their trust in me in order to bring about our project for a more independent France, a stronger Europe.“
He also addressed the voters who voted for him without adhering to his project. “I also know that many of our compatriots voted for me today, not to support the ideas I hold but to block those of the extreme right. And I want to thank them here and tell them that I am aware that this vote binds me for years to come”continued the Head of State.
Emmanuel Macron had a few words for Marine Le Pen voters. “I know that for many of our compatriots, who today chose the far right, the anger and disagreements that led them to vote for this project must also find an answer. This will be my responsibility and that of those that surround me”did he declare.
“From now on, I am no longer the candidate of one camp but the president of all.”
Emmanuel Macronat the Champ de Mars
“This new era will not be the continuity of the quinquennium which is ending but the collective invention of a refounded method for five better years at the service of our country, of our youth”assured the re-elected president.
Marine Le Pen beaten for the third time
Marine Le Pen won 41.2% of the vote in the second round. The candidate of the National Rally admitted defeat a few minutes after the announcement of the results, from the Armenonville pavilion, in the Bois de Boulogne. She was still pleased with the score obtained, the highest for a far-right candidate in the second round under the Fifth Republic. It increased by 7.3 points compared to 2017 (33.9%), according to the estimate of Ipsos-Sopra Steria. His father Jean-Marie Le Pen had obtained 17.79% in 2002 against Jacques Chirac, when the far right had qualified for the first time in the second round.
“The ideas that we represent reach new heights one evening during the second round of the presidential election. Tonight’s result represents, in itself, a resounding victory.”
“I fear this evening that the five-year term which opens will not break with the brutal and contemptuous practices of the previous one”, she said. She then remobilized her electorate for the next elections: “The risk of seeing Macron mechanically seize all legislative and executive powers is high. This is a prospect that no patriot can accept.”
She obviously mentioned the legislative elections of June 12 and 19, this battle that she will lead “alongside Jordan Bardella, with all those who had the courage to oppose Emmanuel Macron in the second round”. “Tonight, I say it again, I will never abandon the French”she concluded.
>> Why Marine Le Pen lost her return match against Emmanuel Macron
Jean-Luc Mélenchon ready for “the third round”
The third man, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, narrowly beaten 15 days ago, hailed the defeat of Marine Le Pen. “France has clearly refused to entrust its future to him and this is very good news”, said the leader of La France insoumise. He also pointed to Emmanuel Macron’s score, “the worst elected of the presidents of the Fifth Republic”according to him. “It floats in an ocean of abstention, blank and void ballots”he added.
The leader of the “rebellious” deputies then projected himself into the near future by evoking the legislative elections. “The third round starts tonight”he launched. “To all of you, I say: do not resign yourself! On the contrary! Take action, frankly, massively. Democracy can give us the means to change course massively.” “You can beat Monsieur Macron and choose another path. Another world is still possible if you elect a majority of the new People’s Union.”
Eric Zemmour calls for the coalition of rights
The leader of the Reconquest! party, Eric Zemmour regretted the defeat of the “in love with France”. “Alas, this is the 8th time that defeat has struck Le Pen’s name. I did what I could to avoid this result”he assured, before calling for a coalition of the “national bloc”. “It must unite and come together, our responsibility is immense, I call for national unity with a view to the legislative elections, he said, let’s build the first coalition of rights and patriots as quickly as possible.”
Le Pen in the lead in the West Indies, Reunion, Guyana and Mayotte
A clear shift has taken place overseas. Marine Le Pen came out on top, sometimes very largely, in the West Indies, Reunion, Guyana and Mayotte in the second round, while she won 41.2% of the vote nationally, according to the Ipsos-Sopra Steria estimate for France Télévisions. Five years ago, Emmanuel Macron came out on top in overseas communities, notably winning 77.5% of the vote in Martinique, 75.1% of the vote in Guadeloupe and 64.9% in Guyana.
“This too forgotten France, we do not forget it”, said Marine Le Pen, as a thank you The RN candidate came first in the second round in Guadeloupe with 69.6% of the vote, in Martinique (60.87%), in Saint-Barthélemy (54.73% ), in Guyana (60.70%), as well as in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (50.69%). Conversely, Emmanuel Macron came first in the Pacific territories, as in the first round, at 61.04% in New Caledonia, 51.8% in French Polynesia and 67.44% in Wallis and Futuna. .