Three days after a shootout in Paris, people came out to cast vote for their next president amidst heightened security. This is the first time ever in France where a presidential poll was held during a state of emergency.
Emmanuel Macron has emerged victorious in the first leg of the election and will face Marine Le Pen, the far-right Front National candidate. Macron topped the first leg with 23.75 per cent of votes followed by Le Pen with 21.53 per cent of votes. 11 candidates were fighting for the position of the next French President.
Macron and Le Pen will continue with their campaign over the next 10 days and participate in two television debates. The campaign will end on May 5 and the country will go to vote on May 7. France will go through the voting process again for parliamentary election in June.
The Macron-Le Pen race is indicative of a rejection of traditional left and right parties which have dominated French politics for decades. François Fillon, the former prime minister and right-wing conservative candidate and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the far-left candidate, tied at third place and were knocked out of the race.
A report in The Guardian stated that several European leaders broke protocol to congratulate the independent candidate well in the next round. Bernard Cazeneuve, Prime Minister, appealed all voters to support Macron in the second round and tweeted, “to combat the National Front’s disastrous project to take France backwards and to divide the French people.”
Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s foreign minister, also extended his support to Macron and said, “I’m sure that he will become the new French president… the only pro-European candidate who didn’t hide behind prejudices against Europe.”
The markets, too, reacted positively to Macron’s win. The Euro raised to 2 per cent to $1.09395. This was Euro’s highest level since November 2016 after Donald Trump won the US Presidential election.
Macron launched his own party, En Marche, that he described as “neither of the Left or the Right” but “for France”. He has strongly advocated for issues including the freedom to practise religion in a secular state, equality and immigration. This is in contrast to Le Pen who has explicitly spoken against Muslim migration, and on Islamic fundamentalism. She has also called for France to leave the European Union.