seen from Africa, nothing is decided for the Macron-Le Pen second round

For the Tunisian Réalités information site, “the breakthrough of the far right” is the first lesson of the first round of the French presidential election. “It was not Emmanuel Macron, outgoing president, who won this first round. Far from it. It was extremism, embodied by Marine Le Pen, Eric Zemmour and other political actors of the same color. In five years, since 2017, the extremes have taken root to the detriment of a left and a republican right which are eroding. Only Jean-Luc Mélenchon, president of France Insoumise (far left), has stood out from the crowd”, analyzes the site.

Analysis shared by the Algerian media TSA. “The first round of the French presidential election confirms the strong decline of the traditional parties which have dominated French political life for decades, the PS (left) and the Republicans (right). (…) This election also marks the worrying breakthrough of the extreme right in France, with two candidates in the first five places in the first round”, worries the pure player.

In Morocco, where the candidate of rebellious France Jean-Luc Mélenchon came out on top according to partial results, many newspapers like Media 24 indicate that the Macron-Le Pen duel of 2022 will not resemble that of 2017 . “It will be a second Macron-Le Pen round, but it will be totally different from the 2017 edition, because France has changed, its political landscape too, as well as the candidates”observes the newspaper.

The Senegalese daily The sun draws the same conclusion: “Marine Le Pen’s result can be described as very good, given the competition from Eric Zemmour. The RN candidate does not appear weakened compared to 2017, on the contrary: she should even register new support before the 2nd turn, a new campaign will soon open.”