As in 2017, Emmanuel Macron will again face Marine Le Pen in the French presidential election run-off on April 24, 2022. According to estimates by Ipsos-Sopra Steria on election night (still no final results), President Macron came in on top in the first round with 27,6% (+4,1% in camparison with 2017), Marine Le Pen finished second with 23% (21,3% in 2017).
The left-winger Jean-Luc Mélenchon won 22,2% (19,58% in 2017) in the 2022 presidential election. Mélenchon clearly said on election: “Don’t give a single vote to Madame Le Pen” (Il ne faut pas donner une seule voix à Madame Le Pen). He repeated it several times because, in 2017, he had been accused of not being clear about his intentions. But, on the first round election night 2022, Mélenchon did not explicitly call to vote for Macron, he just said don’t vote for Le Pen.
The other far-right candidate with chances early in the campaing, the writer and TV personality Eric Zemmour, became a victim of the “useful vote” or “strategic vote” (vote utile) and, according to early estimates, ended with 7,2%. Zemmour tells his voters on election night to vote for Marine Le Pen.
All the other candidates seem to have ended below the 5% threshold necessary to get the money spent during the election campaign paid back by the French state.
The center-right candidate of Les Républicains, Valérie Pécresse, only won 4,8%. At one point, she looked like a serious challenger for President Macron. Subsequently, she positioned herself on the right. She talked immigration (grand remplacement) instead of highlighting first and foremost France’s public debt, budget deficit, trade deficit and Macron’s failure to reduce the number of state employees and his failure to implement a pension reform. In consequence, Valérie Pécresse could not win over liberal and traditional conservative Macron voters. At the same time, she could not win over extreme right voters because they voted for the original (Marine Le Pen, Zemmour) and not the copy.
Valérie Pécresse had a hard time because, the one who had finished second in the Les Républicains primary, Eric Ciotti, is a hard right man who previously had said that he was ready to vote for Eric Zemmour if ever he should make it to the run-off against President Macron. On the first round election night April 10, Eric Ciotti tweeted that he would not tell voters for whom to vote for in the second round, but he would not vote for Macron who has failed (‘Je ne donnerai aucune consigne de vote par respect envers les Français mais je ne voterai pas Emmanuel Macron qui a failli.’). Valéry Pécresse however said on election night that, like former (late) president Jacques Chirac, she had always been against the extremists (from the left and right). She clearly said that she would vote for Macron in the second round.
The Green (EELV) candidate Yannick Jadot ended up with 4,7%. He said on election night that the fight for Green causes such as climate, biodiversity, against extremists would continue. He invited voters to support EELV financially (because the party ended below the 5%-threshold). Jadot clearly told his voters to vote for President Macron in the second round, but underlined that Macron had made the extremists stronger than in 2017, that he had further divided the country, that he had not showed respect for democracy (mépris démocratique). His vote for Macron does not mean support for Macron’s program.
The colorful Jean Lassale won 3,1% (1,21% in 2017) although nobody really knows what he stands for because he has no program. The Communist candidate Fabien Roussel won 2,3%. He was another victim of the useful vote which, on the political left, went to Mélenchon.
Another far-right candidate, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan won 2,1% (4,70% in 2017). As in 2017, he told his voters to vote for Marine Le Pen in the second round.
The once important Socialists (PS) have become insignificant. The Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo only managed to win 1,7%. On election night, she asked her voters to vote for President Macron in the second round (faire barrage à l’extrême droite).
Last of the twelce candidate came the two trotzkists Nathalie Arthaud with 0,7% and Philippe Poutou with 0,6%.
Last, but not least, the nonvoters represented 26.2% in the first round of the French presidential election 2022 (4% more nonvoters in 2022 in comparison with 2017).
Former French PM Edouard Philippe also tells voters to vote for President Macron in the run-off on April 24, 2022.
[Final results added on April 11, 2022 at 15:49 French time: Macron 27,84%, Le Pen 23,15%, Mélenchon 21,95%, Zemmour 7,07%, Pécresse 4,78%, Jadot 4,63%, Lassalle 3,13%, Roussel 2,28%, Dupont-Aignan 2,06%, Hidalgo 1,75%, Poutou 0,77%, Arthaud 0,56%].
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Photograph on top: Emmanuel Macron in April 2015. Photo Copyright © Claude Truong-Ngoc. Source: Wikipedia. Article added on April 10, 2022 at 21:30 French time. Last update on April 11, 2022 at 01:30 Paris time. Still not the final results.
