Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: The Lebanese Army is continuing its investigations and will later announce any information that does not affect the confidentiality of the investigation
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: It has not yet been determined whether the detainees belong to ISIS or another organization
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Around 10 people of different nationalities, including Lebanese nationals, were detained
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: The Lebanese army arrested a number of people in the Matn area of Mount Lebanon with possession it has not disclosed
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: We have strong indications that there are martyrs, injuries, and trapped people in the Salah al-Din area
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: Citizens should avoid Salah al-Din Street because anyone who approaches it is at risk of being directly targeted
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: Reality is that there is a very limited retreat of the vehicles, with the occupation forces providing cover undeer fire up to Salah al-Din Street
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman: Claims that the Israeli occupation has withdrawn from areas in the neighborhoods of al-Zaytoun, al-Tuffah, and al-Shujaiya are false
Hamas: The two delegations stressed that any negotiations must lead to the achievement of our people's goals and aspirations, foremost among which is ending the war and the complete withdrawal of enemy forces
Hamas: A delegation from the Hamas leadership, led by the head of the leadership council, Mohammad Darwish, met with an Islamic Jihad delegation, headed by its Secretary-General, Ziyad al-Nakhalah

Macron won, but …

  • Atilio A. Boron Atilio A. Boron
  • Source: Al Mayadeen
  • 3 Jun 2022 00:09
  • 1 Shares
4 Min Read

The traditional center-left and center-right in French politics are facing mounting troubles with each election, as support for the far-right continues to grow.

  • x
  • Macron won, but …
    Macron won, but …

Emmanuel Macron defeated his rival, the far-right Marine Le Pen, a very significant result since the victory of a neofascist representative in France would have had a devastating impact on a European scale. However, the growth of his political force is still worrying: if in the second round of the 2017 elections she garnered 33.9 percent of the vote, in this Sunday's Le Pen climbed to 41.8 percent, while Macron decreased its electoral strength from 66.1 in 2017 to the current 58.2 percent. 

Therefore, this advance of the extreme right could hardly be underestimated. Let us remember that in the presidential elections of 2002 the father of the current candidate and founder of the National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, a rabid xenophobe, had obtained almost 18 percent of the votes, and entered in the run-off (ballotage), where he was defeated by Jacques Chirac. For the next presidential election (2007) he lost almost half of the votes, but his daughter fully recovered them, although it was not enough to enter in the second round, in 2012. For the next one, which took place in 2017, the extreme right almost doubled its electoral strength jumping from 18 to 34 percent of the votes in the run-off with Emmanuel Macron.

Related News

News from Nowhere: The French Connection

Musk’s Far-Right Policy Priorities Is Dangerous for the International Community

In last election, Marine Le Pen won 41.5 percent of the vote, an impressive record that does not bode well for the future of French politics and for immigrants living in France. Returning to Macron, it is clear that his ability to capture votes from his left or center-left was very limited, despite the fear that the eventuality of a presidency in the hands of Le Pen may have aroused. The neoliberal orthodoxy of his economic and social policies together with the managerial and arrogant style of his government and the ferocity of the repression ordered against the repeated protests of the "yellow vests" reduced its electoral base. It would not be wrong to say that Macron was elected more because of the fear his opponent aroused than because of the love professed by large sectors of French society. It was, as the IPSOS pollster assures, “a vote without enthusiasm.”

These elections showed another facet that describes in a certain sense the prevailing social mood in France: they had the lowest rate of citizen participation since the presidential election of 1969, the same one that installed Georges Pompidou in the Elysée Palace after the political earthquake unleashed by the resignation of the General Charles de Gaulle. It could be an exaggeration -although not entirely inaccurate- to speak of a "pyrrhic victory" for Macron because in just over a month, on June 12, legislative elections will be held to renew the 577-member National Assembly and the first polls conducted by IPSOS on Sunday night reveal that the new composition of the National Assembly could perhaps be a serious setback for Macron.

That apparent incongruence: a victory in the presidential election and a defeat in the legislative would not be a total anomaly in France, because there have already been three cases of "cohabitation" in the past. In 1986 François Mitterrand, the socialist president, appointed the Gaullist Jacques Chirac as his prime minister after his victory in the legislative elections that year; and in 1993 Mitterrand had to entrust the formation of the government to the conservative Édouard Balladur.

Finally,  between 1997 and 2002, Chirac as president had to appoint the socialist Lionel Jospin as prime minister. That seems to be the bet of the leader of the leftist France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who has called on his numerous supporters (he obtained almost 22 percent in the first round) to close ranks and build an electoral majority in the National Assembly to erect a formidable barrier against Macron's “recharged” neoliberal project.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • Right-Wing
  • French President
  • French elections
  • France
  • le pen
  • Macron
Atilio A. Boron

Atilio A. Boron

Sociologist, political scientist, and journalist.

Most Read

All
How is it that the Western regimes, which claimed to support the fake revolutions of Lebanon, Libya, and Syria, waged constant war against the actual Ansar Allah-led revolution in Yemen? (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

Understanding Yemen 1/2: The Revolution

  • Opinion
  • 30 Jun 2025
Why Netanyahu is on the ropes

Why Netanyahu is on the ropes

  • Analysis
  • 4 Jul 2025
Ukraine’s Corporate Carve-Up Collapses?

Ukraine’s Corporate Carve-Up Collapses?

  • Analysis
  • 11 Jul 2025
Africa’s top university’s ‘Gaza Resolutions’ outrages pro-'Israel' lobby

Africa’s top university’s ‘Gaza Resolutions’ outrages pro-'Israel' lobby

  • Analysis
  • 4 Jul 2025

Coverage

All
War on Iran

More from this writer

All
Imperialism exists, and it will continue to generate pain and death everywhere, to destroy the environment, to wage wars, and to sow poverty everywhere. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

Trump and his distant predecessor

Your government, President, is not only bad, irrational, and inefficient because it promotes neither economic growth nor income distribution. It is also immoral. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Ali al-Hadi Shmeiss)

Milei as a Marxist

The irreversible decline of Western supremacy, under the leadership of the United States, will not be a peaceful process. It would be naive to think so. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab El-Hajj)

The new multipolar world system and the end of an era

Still America first?

Still America first?

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS