Marine Le Men (left) and Emmanuel Macron go to a second electoral round in France following an initial election marked by abstention.
The current president Emmanuel Macron and the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen will face each other in the second electoral round for the presidency of France, following reaching the first places in the elections this Sunday.
The initial numbers indicate that the centrist registers 28% of the votes, while his opponent 23.3%. As the polls revealed, in third place is the left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon with 20.1%.
Five years ago Le Pen and Macron also faced each other in the second electoral round.
On this occasion, the European country will hold the decisive election on April 24 following none of the 12 current candidates reach 50% of the necessary votes. The new French president would take power on May 13.
“On the 24th, two visions of society are at stake, that of division and disorder or that of the union of the French in social justice and protection. All those who have not voted for Macron are invited to join this unification,” Le Pen said from her campaign committee following the results were known.
Macron has not expressed himself so far.
Marked abstention
Meanwhile, the numbers for this weekend’s elections, in which 49 million citizens were called to participate, show an increase in abstention compared to the last two electoral events.
According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, at 5:00 pm local time, the participation of 65% of eligible voters was registered. In the first round five years ago, participation comprised 69.42%, while in 2012 this rate was 70.59% for the same time.
Opinion polls suggested that the most important issues in the current electoral race are the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the economy, migration and security.
In January, France posted its highest annual economic growth in half a century, recovering from the impact of the covid-19 pandemic.
But gasoline prices have skyrocketed, as have energy bills and annual inflation is up 4.5%.
Naturally, those most affected by the economic situation are low-income voters, as well as those under 35 years of age.
For this reason, the 12 candidates adapted their proposals to the cost of living crisis. Some have offered big increases in basic income or, in the case of Marine Le Pen, exemption from tax for those under 30.
Similarly, the country has seen unemployment fall to 7.4%, just above the eurozone average, but close to the target set by the current president when he came to power, whose promise was 7%.
Regarding immigration, official statistics suggest that in 2020 there were some 6.8 million immigrants living in France. About a third were Europeans, both from the European Union and from non-EU countries.
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