The same finalists as in 2017, traditional parties at their lowest… The first round of the presidential election, which took place on Sunday April 10, marks a change in the French political landscape. Franceinfo summarizes what to remember from the results.
>> Follow the election night in our live
Turnout was high (but not record high)
Abstention is estimated at 26%, nearly four points more than five years ago, according to our partner Ipsos-Sopra Steria. Since 2007, abstention in successive presidential elections has steadily increased. However, the 2002 record (an abstention of 28.4%) was not reached.
Despite this high abstention, the presidential election remains by far the election attracting the most voters. In 2021, two thirds (66.7%) of registered voters shunned the regional and departmental elections. The previous abstention record was that of the 2009 European elections, where 59.4% of voters did not go to the polling booth.
Macron and Le Pen meet in the second round
The 2022 presidential finalists are the same as in 2017: Emmanuel Macron (La République en Marche) and Marine Le Pen (National Rally) obtained 27.6% and 23% of the vote respectively, according to an Ipsos-Sopra estimate. Steria for France Télévisions, Radio France, France24/RFI/MCD, Public Senate/LCP National Assembly and Le Parisien-Today in France.
In front of his supporters, at the Porte de Versailles, in Paris, the outgoing president called for the founding, “beyond the differences”, “a great political movement of unity and action”. “I would like to reach out to all those who want to work for France, to invent something new, in order to build with them a common action to build our nation in the years to come”he added, defending “a humanist France, faithful to the spirit of 1789”. “Let’s spare no effort in the next 15 days, nothing is done”he warned several times. “When the far right represents so much in the country, we cannot consider that things are going well”he then declared at the microphone of France 2.
With 23%, the National Rally candidate has improved her 2017 score (which was 21.3%). Faced with her supporters, she wanted to expand her movement. “All those who today did not vote for Emmanuel Macron today are of course entitled to join this rally”said Marine Le Pen. “I want to be the president of all French people”she launched. “What will be at stake is not only a vote of circumstance but a choice of society and even of civilization”she added, highlighting “the values of the Republic”, “laicity” and also “equality between women and men”.
>> How the “dreadful strategy” of Marine Le Pen made her a contender for the final victory
Jean-Luc Mélenchon just fails
The leader of La France insoumise rose to third place with 22.2% of the vote. Jean-Luc Mélenchon thus improved his 2017 score and narrowly failed to qualify. Especially since the gap with the far-right candidate has narrowed, the rebellious candidate passing in the estimates of Ipsos-Sopra Steria from 20.1% to 22.2% against 23.3% to 23% for her rival. “The two qualified are indeed Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, but Jean-Luc Mélenchon is very close”however assured Brice Teinturier, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Ipsos, on France 2.
“As long as life goes on, the fight goes on. (…) You are neither weak nor helpless, you are in a condition to fight this battle, and the next one, and the next one, and the next onelaunched Jean-Luc Mélenchon in front of his supporters. Look at me ! I never let go, I never gave in, I never looked down and that’s how we built this strength.”he continued. And the rebellious candidate concludes: “So of course, the younger ones will say to me: ‘Well, we haven’t got there yet’. It’s not far, huh. Do better! Thank you.”
>> Despite a final with a bang, the “turtle” Jean-Luc Mélenchon fails once again at the gates of the second round
Eric Zemmour finishes far behind
Eric Zemmour, fourth, finished far behind with 7.2%. He promised to stay in the French political landscape. “I take each of your voices as the cry of a people who do not want to die”said Eric Zemmour after the announcement of the results. “The fact that you were two million to support a man who started from nothing shows that you heard me. This is a fundamental element that cannot be forgotten in the coming days, in the coming years. Your voice cannot never again be overlooked.”
The fact that you were two million to support a man who started from nothing shows that my message has been heard. Your voice can never again be overlooked, regardless of the outcome of the second round.#ThanksZemmourpic.twitter.com/XcZFf0ki2F
— Eric Zemmour (@ZemmourEric) April 10, 2022
The PS and the Republicans at their lowest
Lhe two historic parties of the Fifth Republic suffered an unprecedented slap in the face. The low score of the Republican candidate, Valérie Pécresse (4.8%), is undoubtedly the main surprise of the evening. The defeat was expected, but not this score below 5%, the threshold below which all campaign costs are not reimbursed. “I had to fight on two fronts: against the camp of the outgoing president and against that of the extremes. Allies, in the circumstances, to divide and beat the Republican right”said Valérie Pécresse. “The reflex of useful voting has played out”she regretted. “I take full responsibility for my part in this defeat.”
>> From the flight during the LR primary to the crash of the first round, Valérie Pécresse’s disaster campaign
In this campaign, I carried the ambition of a united, free and proud France.
⁰ I had to fight on two fronts: against the camp of the outgoing president and against that of the extremes. Allies, in the circumstances, to divide and defeat the Republican right. #Pecresse2022 pic.twitter.com/5LLBMApBQ0— Valerie Pécresse (@vpecresse) April 10, 2022
The future of the Republicans looks delicate. “Today, the LRs, by dint of wanting to be the center and the right, are threatened with being almost nothing”estimated the deputy Julien Aubert.
>> INFOGRAPHICS. The Republicans and the Socialist Party achieve the lowest scores in their history
Anne Hidalgo ends with 1.7%, three times less than Benoît Hamon in 2017 when he had collected only 6.3%. “I know how disappointed you are this evening and we will of course draw up all the balance sheets together objectively. But you know that we never give up, that I never give up”said Anne Hidalgo, addressing a particular thought to the “first of duty”.
The PS is not “surely not” death, assured the leader of the socialist senators Patrick Kanner. “We have a lot of territorial elected officials, we run a lot of large communities”recalled on France 2 the senator, who played a major role in the campaign of Anne Hidalgo, calling for a “reconstruction for which we must urgently prepare”. A reconstruction that promises to be gigantic and whets the appetites.
>> Anne Hidalgo and the Socialist Party swept away in the first round, after seven months of ordeal
Yannick Jadot below the 5% mark
Despite great ambitions, the environmentalist candidate ends with the score of 4.7%. After the announcement of the results, the candidate regretted that environmental issues had been “largely ignored in this confiscated campaign”. “Ecology will be absent from the second round, it will not be able to be from the five-year term”he warned, calling on his supporters to mobilize in order to “huge deadline” legislative ones.
>> Why Yannick Jadot and environmentalists still came up against “the ceiling of Greens”
Several candidates call to “block”
Anne Hidalgo spoke as soon as the first estimates were announced. She called to vote for Emmanuel Macron: “Because it is the commitment of my whole life, for the Republic, and so that France does not fall into hatred of all against all, I call on you with seriousness to vote on April 24 against the far right of Marine Le Pen using the Emmanuel Macron ballot.”
Valerie Pécresse share the same position. “Marine Le Pen’s project would lead the country to impotence, discord, bankruptcyshe justified. Her historical closeness to Vladimir Putin discredits her.” “So, and despite the deep differences that I hammered home throughout the campaign, she explained, I will vote in conscience Emmanuel Macron to prevent the coming to power of Marine Le Pen and the chaos that would result.
Yannick Jadotthe environmentalist candidate, is on the same line. “Without hesitation, without ambiguity, I call on green voters to block the far right by depositing an Emmanuel Macron ballot in the ballot box on April 24”said the elected representative of Europe Ecologie-Les Verts. “Our vote is not worth guarantee” for the outgoing president, who must now “create the conditions for rallying to defeat the far right”he warned, however.
Jean-Luc Melenchonthe candidate of La France insoumise, called to prevent a possible election of Marine Le Pen. “We must not give a single voice to Madame Le Penhe repeated four times, anticipating possible remarks and criticisms. Well, I think the message has been heard.”
Fabien Rousselthe communist candidate, also invited his voters to vote for Emmanuel Macron. “I will never allow a racist and xenophobic project to be implemented at the head of the state. I will never resolve that Madame Le Pen can use our institutions in the service of her enterprise of hatred and division”did he declare. “That’s why I’m calling tonight to beat the far right using the only bulletin that will be available.”
️ “I will never resolve that Madame Le Pen can use our institutions in the service of her enterprise of hatred and division”, declared PCF candidate Fabien Roussel
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Like Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Philippe PoutouNPA candidate who won 0.79%, called for “don’t give a voice” to Marine Le Pen in the second round.
Eric Zemmourthe Reconquête! candidate, for his part called on his voters to vote for Marine Le Pen. “Because I think of France above all, I cannot sit idly by in the face of the evils that threaten our country. I have many disagreements with Marine Le Pen, I will not list them again. But faced with her, there is a man (…) who will do worse if he is re-elected”he justified.
Nicolas Dupont-Aignanthe candidate of Debout la France, also called to vote for Marine Le Penwith whom the elected sovereignist had also allied himself in the second round of 2017.
Nathalie Arthaud (Lutte Ouvrière) did not give instructions. same for me John Lassalle who “completely trust” to his constituents “because you were smart enough to choose me despite so many difficulties”. The deputy for Pyrénées-Atlantiques is credited with 3.1% of the vote, according to our Ipsos-Sopra Steria estimate.