Macron moves to heal divisions after destructive French presidential election

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Macron moves to heal divisions after destructive French presidential election

By Nick Miller
Updated

Paris: After a euphoric night, France's new president-elect Emmanuel Macron faced a sobering morning on Monday - and the task of forming a government that can heal the divisions exposed by its election campaign.

His first official act was to accompany outgoing president Francois Hollande to a ceremony marking the anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

The symbolism will not be lost on a country emerging from an extraordinary, political casualty-strewn election.

But this week marks only a short pause before hostilities resume.

Emmanuel Macron, French presidential candidate, waves to supporters in front of the Pyramid at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Emmanuel Macron, French presidential candidate, waves to supporters in front of the Pyramid at the Louvre Museum in Paris.Credit: Bloomberg

Macron's defeated opponent, Marine Le Pen, told her supporters on Sunday night that their fight was not over, describing the new fracture in French political culture as one between "patriots and globalists" and calling on them to rally to her patriotic cause.

And France's Socialist and Republican parties, sidelined in the election run-off, have already begun organising campaigns to regain power in next month's National Assembly elections.

If the Republicans win control of parliament they will force on Macron a prime minister not of his own choosing, who would in effect run the country's domestic political agenda. This arrangement, known in France as "cohabitation", has previously led to legislative deadlocks and stifled reform.

Macron, at 39 the youngest French leader since Napoleon, will not only have to assume the responsibilities of government but also try to wield his new mandate to shepherd his brand new, untested political party En Marche! into a position where it can win a majority of seats in the Assembly.

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Supporters of Emmanuel Macron wave French flags while reacting as vote projections are announced in the second round of the French presidential election in Paris.

Supporters of Emmanuel Macron wave French flags while reacting as vote projections are announced in the second round of the French presidential election in Paris.Credit: Bloomberg

At the same time he will face the fallout from a massive hack of his campaign emails – gigabytes of detailed documents exposing the inner workings of En Marche!, which journalists have already pledged to investigate.

In Macron's favour, though, is the size of his mandate.

The political novice, a virtual unknown only a few years ago, crushed his right-wing populist opponent by almost 2:1 to claim the French presidency.

The result has been greeted as a rejection of the recent wave of nationalist politics that has swept through Western democracies.

The threat of a far-right coup had been talked up by Le Pen's opponents, and her allies had insisted she had a genuine shot at the Elysée Palace.

In the end, though, more registered voters abstained from the second round of the election than cast a ballot for the former head of the Front National.

Almost 21 million people voted for Macron, compared with less than 11 million for Le Pen, and over 12 million abstentions.

Nevertheless, the result was a new high-water mark for the FN in French politics, with some – including UKIP's former leader Nigel Farage – predicting it set the party up for an even stronger showing – and perhaps victory – in five years' time.

Macron campaigned on a pro-European Union platform that mixed free-market economics with liberal social policies.

In a subdued victory speech, Macron acknowledged the deep divisions in France and pledged to restore the link between Europe and its citizens.

He would "fight with all my strength against the division that undermines and destroys us", he said.

"I will do everything in the five years to come so there is no more reason to vote for the extremes … I know the divisions in our nation that led some to extreme votes. I respect them … I know the anger, the anxiety, the doubts that a large number of you also expressed. It is my responsibility to hear them."

Mrs Le Pen said France had "voted for continuity".

But she also said the election had been a "historic and massive result" that had confirmed a major breakdown in French politics, with the elimination of the establishment parties of the Socialists and Republicans in the first round.

She said the new division in politics was between "patriots and globalists", and pledged to continue to fight on the side of the patriots, with Front National as the country's main opposition party.

The result was welcomed by world leaders – and one would-be world leader.

Hillary Clinton tweeted it was a "Victory for Macron, for France, the EU, & the world. Defeat to those interfering w/democracy. (But the media says I can't talk about that)"

It was likely a reference to the hack of the Macron campaign, echoing the hack of the Democrats that damaged Clinton's run for the US presidency.

EU president Donald Tusk said France had "chosen liberty, equality and brotherhood, and said no to the tyranny of 'fake news'."

And Norway's foreign minister Borge Brende said it was a "crystal clear and historic result against nationalism, populism and protectionism".

But Germany's foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel warned, "If he fails, in five years Mrs Le Pen will be president and the European project will go to the dogs".

One of the first world leaders to congratulate Macron was German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a conversation that insiders described as "warm".

Macron, a former investment banker attracted voters from across the political and demographic spectrum who were weary of the two-party duopoly.

His eventual victory was even more convincing than pre-election polls, which had for months consistently predicted a 60:40 defeat of Le Pen by Macron.

His was the second-biggest victory in a French presidential vote since 1965.

An analysis of vote movement between the two rounds of the election showed that Macron picked up more votes than Le Pen from most of their defeated first-round opponents. He also mobilised a significant number of abstainers from the first round to cast a vote in his favour.

However many of the radical left abstained in the second round, choosing "neither the fascist nor the banker".

Voters told French media they were very happy the election was coming to an end – and many of those who voted for Macron said they had come out to vote because they feared the consequences of a Le Pen presidency, rather than feeling inspired by Macron's pro-Europe, free-market policies.

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"I'm feeling anxious but I tell myself if I don't do my part and have faith in the future of the country we would risk going down a destructive path for the country," one voter told France 24.

Current president Francois Hollande, the first in modern France not to seek re-election, will officially transfer power next Sunday.

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