On Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron was re-elected to a second term. Emmanuel Macron had numerous hurdles during his presidency, ranging from anti-government protests to the coronavirus pandemic to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Here is an analysis of Macron’s campaign and poll promises. Since Jacques Chirac’s re-election in 2002, he would be the first French president to be re-elected in two decades.
Emmanuel Macron: “A Political Outsider”
At the age of 39, Emmanuel Macron became France’s youngest-ever president in 2017.
He’s a former investment banker, which explains why some refer to him as a “political outsider.”
He had stated at the time that he would neither be on the left nor right of the political spectrum.
Macron’s personal life
Emmanuel Macron’s wife, Brigitte, is a former drama teacher. She is 24 years older than the French President and was married with three children at the time (in 2007).
Brigitte once said in a French documentary, “We’d call each other all the time and spend hours on the phone. Bit by bit, he defeated all my resistance, amazingly, with patience.”
There are a few points of contention as well. For example, Anne Fulda, one of Macron’s biographers, has stated that it is an uncommon love story that the couple chose not to publicize until he campaigned for office.
Overlapping issues in the previous term
Following Macron’s first year in office, he was met with some of the most violent anti-government protests since the 1960s, when protestors wearing fluorescent yellow safety jackets launched a nationwide revolt against his policies.
At the beginning of 2020, he battled COVID-19, a once-in-a-century worldwide pandemic, rendering practically all other government business obsolete and putting an end to his last reform efforts.
He has been on the diplomatic frontlines seeking to end the Russian President’s invasion of Ukraine for the last month and a half. He has also withstood Donald Trump’s norm-shattering American administration.
New promises?
This time, Macron’s primary point is for stability and steady leadership in the face of catastrophes. The catastrophes include the COVID-19 pandemic, soaring inflation, and the war in Ukraine.
He claims that his political view is “neither left nor right”. His program incorporates elements from both sides of the traditional split.
His plans to boost the minimum level of pensions, hire more workers for the health service, and make gender equality and combating school harassment priorities come from the left’s arsenal.
Greater tax cuts for businesses, tens of thousands more cops and judges, and a rise in the retirement age, which is currently 62, to assist decrease the vast debt of the pension system come from the right.
He also promised to plant 140 million trees. Also, his future prime minister will be “directly in charge of the ecology plan.”
Say hello to the President of France: Emmanuel Macron
Macron won his second term as President of France. He defeated far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
Macron won 1,87,79,809 votes (58.5%), compared to Le Pen’s 1,32,97,728 (41.5%).
The people have had their say. Emmanuel Macron easily defeated his far-right opponent Marine Le Pen. Thus, becoming the first French president in two decades to win a second term.
According to the French Ministry of the Interior, Macron received 58.5% of the vote with 18.8 million ballots. Le Pen received 41.5 percent with 13.3 million votes. In the 2017 election, the two candidates received 66.1% of the vote with 20.7 million votes and 33.9% of the vote with 10.6 million votes, respectively.