Rounding Up The French Election Results

Over the weekend, French voters went to the polls for the country’s presidential runoff election. Emmanuel Macron, the former Socialist who left the party last year in an attempt to distance himself politically from the unpopular current president, won easily over Marine Le Pen, the nationalist and controversial politician who promised a tightening of immigration laws, a crackdown on terrorism, and a referendum on leaving the European Union. Macron won 66% of the vote to Le Pen’s 34%.

I’ve quite frankly grown sick of Macron being referred to as the “centrist” in the race, and Le Pen as the “far-right candidate”. Both are easy, shorthand labels tailored for an American audience that are misleading at best. Macron is “centrist” only in the sense that he is to the right of the current Socialist president, Francois Hollande, and is an internationalist who favors multiculturalism and greater immigration; applauds the United Nations, European Union, and similar international groups; and, in general, seeks to tinker around the edges of France’s massive welfare state. He will be, in short, a status quo president.

Le Pen, meanwhile, favors increased ties with Russia, contemplates pulling out of NATO, and seeks to expand the welfare state even further. In short, there was no good option in this second-round election, and I’m grateful for the fact that I did not have to endure yet another lesser-of-two-evils presidential campaign in person. Little wonder that turnout was historically low for a French general election, and 10% of votes cast were blank.

For now, the status quo has been preserved, both in France domestically and respect to international relations with the United States and other major powers. But the question remains for the people of France, particularly the millions who voted for Le Pen, abstained, or voted only reluctantly for the lesser of two evils: How long can the status quo last?