Return to social unrest expected as Macron re-elected
Ramin Mazaheri
Press TV, Paris
In a vote marred by xenophobia, abstention, and bitter ballots, Emmanuel Macron has become the first president to win re-election since Jacques Chirac in 2002.
French President Emmanuel Macron has been re-elected in a comfortable victory, defeating the National Rally’s Marine Le Pen, just like in 2017.
Six years after Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, France has still not had a shock victory that opposes right-wing economics and globalization.
Macron’s victory will be celebrated by high finance, in Brussels and by the so-called “bourgeois bloc” who are his core supporters.
However, the Yellow Vests have said for months that they view a Macron victory as intolerable and as a call to social battle.
Le Pen did see a major rise in support as compared with 2017, but the “nationalist bloc” still fell short.
It seems that many voters simply could not vote in favor of even a re-branded National Front, whose far-right record goes back decades.
Abstention hit 28%, the highest since 1969. Blank or purposely spoiled ballots are estimated to be an additional 12%.
The “populist bloc”, who apparently wanted neither candidate, made their presence felt by denying Macron a convincing victory in terms of the overall electorate.
Just like in 2017, Macron is likely to face calls that his victory is not a mandate for his proposed policies, such as raising the retirement age this fall. That means the country is like to experience continued social unrest, which was unprecedented in Macron’s first term.
France’s political future usually first surfaces in its Neo-imperial colonies, like with the Yellow Vests. For the first time, the far-right swept most of France’s overseas territories, in perhaps a preview of 2027.
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