Crisis averted.
That was doubtless the first response of many on Sunday upon learning that French President Emmanuel Macron had decisively turned back a challenge from far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.
Sometimes, a sigh of relief is just the ticket. And Macron’s reelection surely was a relief for most anyone and everyone.
Early projections had Macron winning 59% of the vote to Le Pen’s 41%. In other words, it wasn’t so close, but it’s nonetheless disturbing to see Le Pen, who is friendly to Russian President Vladimir Putin while being hostile to France’s place in the European Union, garnering four in 10 votes. That said, Macron, the first French president in two decades to win a second term, will likely be maintaining, and adding, a much-needed dose of reason and stability.
Voters in France, like their counterparts in the United States, were greatly concerned about inflation and immigration. Because of this, and because no candidate from the left made it to Sunday’s final vote, there were real fears that turnout would be dangerously low, giving life to Le Pen’s bid. Thankfully, such was not to be.
Maybe, one hopes, Sunday’s vote in France hits the pause button on the populist uprising that began with Great Britain’s approval of Brexit in June 2016 and continued with Donald Trump’s stunning victory in our nation’s presidential election that November. Had Le Pen knocked off Macron, that would have created something of a trifecta of trouble.
Want to look on the bright side? An 18-point loss isn’t a nail-biter. Still, those who tend to see the glass as generally half-empty could wish to note that Le Pen improved upon her showing five years back, when she garnered 34% of the vote in her first loss to Macron.
This election in France was a big win for anyone who cherishes alliances, who believes that Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has shown the Russian strongman to be a war criminal of the first order, who wants to see liberal democracies thrive. It’s now entirely possible that Macron will feel free to provide greater aid to Ukraine. Here’s hoping.
France, of course, has long been one of our nation’s staunchest and most reliable allies. That alliance would have been badly shaken had Le Pen prevailed.
Thankfully, that was not to be.
— The Springfield, Mass, Republican
