While the vote counting is still ongoing, partial results confirm that the showdown between the incumbent president and his 2017 rival will have a second round on April 24.
The president-candidate has improved his 2017 first-round score by more than 3 points, just like his opponent who gained more than 2 points.
Third in this ranking is Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who exceeds 22% of the votes. He benefits from the strategic voting of a fragmented (four candidates) and, ultimately, inaudible left.
Behind this trio, it is a desert: the “prophet” Eric Zemmour, who was supposed to shake things up with his program with strong xenophobic accents, received only 7% of the votes.
The ecologist candidate Jadot is capped around 5%.
The two historical parties of French politics, around which democratic life has revolved since General De Gaulle, have collapsed: the Republican candidate Valérie Pécresse (yes, the one who self-described as being 2/3 Merkel and 1/3 Thatcher) did not exceed 5%. Moreover, her post-primary alliance with her rival, the pseudo-Zemmourist Eric Ciotti, has been, for her as for other candidates in previous elections, the kiss of death.
As for the socialist Anne Hidalgo… her candidacy never took off and one wonders what could have motivated this experienced politician (she was elected mayor of Paris twice, wasn’t she?) to embark on this daring venture.
Now all eyes are on the second round scheduled for April 24. Locusts, crickets, grasshoppers, and other rodents will leave the field where the two finalists will remain.
While Zemmour, very spirited despite his failure, has called to vote for MLP, the other candidates, each in their own way (some explicitly, others by being negative towards MLP) have expressed their support for Emmanuel Macron, who will take on the role of the favorite.
At the local level, Christian Estrosi, who gathered his supporters in a palace in the city center, can only rejoice in his support for the president of the Republic. Unofficial figures give Emmanuel Macron as the most voted in Nice.
Eric Ciotti, deputy of Nice, has already expressed his choice: he will not vote for Macron: “I will not give any voting instructions out of respect for the French, but I will not vote for Emmanuel Macron who has failed.”
Should we think that he is leaning towards MLP? The suspicions are more than legitimate.
