French Election: Macron Defeats Le Pen 65% to 35%

[DonLever]

From Canadian Press:

 

PARIS — French voters shut out the country's political mainstream from the presidency for the first time in the country's modern history, and on Monday found themselves being courted across the spectrum for the runoff election.

 

The May 7 runoff will be between the populist Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron, and French politicians on the moderate left and right immediately urged voters to block Le Pen's path to power.

 

The defeated far-left candidate, Jean-Luc Melenchon, pointedly refused to do the same, and Le Pen's National Front is hoping to do the once unthinkable and peel away voters historically opposed to a party long tainted by racism and anti-Semitism.

"The voters who voted for Mr. Melenchon are angry voters. They can be in agreement with us," said Steeve Brios, a vice-president of Le Pen's National Front party. He said they express a choice "outside the system."

 

Choosing inside the system is no longer an option for French voters, who rejected the two mainstream parties that have alternated power for decades in favour of Le Pen and the untested Macron, who has never held elected office and who founded his own political movement just last year. Turnout was 78 per cent.

 

Socialist candidate Manuel Valls, whose party holds a majority in the legislature and whose President Francois Hollande is the most unpopular in modern French record-keeping, got just 6 per cent. The conservative candidate fared marginally better, coming in third with just shy of 20 per cent of the vote.

 

"We are in a phase of decomposition, demolition, deconstruction," said former Socialist prime minister Manuel Valls. "We didn't do the work — intellectual, ideological and political — on what the left is, and we paid the price."

 

Both centre-right and centre-left fell in behind Macron, whose optimistic vision of a tolerant France and a united Europe with open borders is a stark contrast to Le Pen's darker, inward-looking "French-first" platform that calls for closed borders, tougher security, less immigration and dropping the shared euro currency to return to the French franc.

 

European stock markets surged on the open as investors welcomed the first-round results, with Macron favoured to win. German Chancellor Angela Merkel wished Macron "all the best for the next two weeks."

Merkel's chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, tweeted that "the result for Emmanuel Macron shows: France AND Europe can win together! The centre is stronger than the populists think!"

 

Le Pen's father, Jean-Marie, made it to the second round against Jacques Chirac in 2002 and was crushed. Many commentators expect the same fate for his daughter, but she has already drawn far more support than he ever did and she's transformed the party's once-pariah image.

 

Le Pen offers an alternative for anyone skeptical of the European Union and France's role in it, said Louis Aliot, the vice-president of the National Front party.

"I'm not convinced that the French are willing to sign a blank check to Mr. Macron," he said.

 

But Macron's party spokesman, Benjamin Griveaux, said the far-right candidate is hardly a vector of change.

 

"She's been in the political system for 30 years. She inherited her father's party and we will undoubtedly have Le Pens running for the next 20 years, because after we had the father, we have the daughter and we will doubtless have the niece," he said. "So she is in a truly bad position to be talking about the elites and the people."

Macron came in first in Sunday's vote, with just over 23 per cent; Le Pen had 21 per cent; Melenchon and losing conservative candidate Francois Fillon each had 19 per cent. Fillon, a former prime minister, bested the former Trotskyist by just 94,998 votes.

Protesters overnight burned cars, danced around bonfires and dodged riot police at the Place de la Bastille and Republique. Twenty-nine people were detained at the Bastille, where protesters waved red flags and sang "No Marine and No Macron!" in anger at the results.

 

 

[Ryan Strome]

Le Pen get er done.

[Warhippy]

36 minutes ago, Ryan Strome said:

Le Pen get er done.

Ya because the American Trump is gettin er done....why not have a French one as well

[Ryan Strome]

3 minutes ago, Warhippy said:

Ya because the American Trump is gettin er done....why not have a French one as well

Well things aren't very good in France are they? Bye bye EU.

[Hugor Hill]

"Marine Le Pen is a bad person. A very very bad person."

 

[Warhippy]

3 minutes ago, Ryan Strome said:

Well things aren't very good in France are they? Bye bye EU.

Because electing a guy who will inflame those already in the country is a good idea 

 

All them deplorables and bad nasty women

[Ryan Strome]

4 minutes ago, Hugor Hill said:

"Marine Le Pen is a bad person. A very very bad person."

 

Funny how you keep saying this about people that win.  One more hurdle for Le Pen.

 

It should be Trudeau and Wynne are bad people.

[Ryan Strome]

5 minutes ago, Warhippy said:

Because electing a guy who will inflame those already in the country is a good idea 

 

All them deplorables and bad nasty women

Is the mass flood of refugees in Europe working in your opinion?

 

Is the EU working?

[nuckin_futz]

While Le Pen has a chance, she doesn't have much of a chance. Her support is all in rural areas. She did quite well in southern France. In Paris she garnered just 5% of the vote.

 

Turn out was nothing special which is a negative for Le Pen. Pollsters pretty much nailed the first round to a tee and Le Pen is polling 38% to Macron's 62% for stage 2 on May 7.

 

Fillon has conceded and endorsed Macron. Melenchon has not endorsed anyone yet but he's the polar opposite of Le Pen, so he ain't endorsing her.

 

Le Pen's platform is radical to say the least. She wants to withdraw from the EU and NATO as well, and (correct me if I am wrong) curtail all immigration.

 

A Le Pen victory would signal the death of the EU. If France leaves, Italy would surely leave. Then you'd have a union that only included 1 of the 5 largest European nations (Germany). It would be without France, UK, Italy and Switzerland. It would basically be Germany "and friends" and I doubt many of the remaining nations are all that thrilled about being friends with Germany (financially speaking that is).

 

Financial markets are thrilled with this outcome. France's market is having it's best day since 2012 +4.2%. The Euro currency hit it's highest level since last November.

 

 

 

 

[Warhippy]

15 minutes ago, Ryan Strome said:

Is the mass flood of refugees in Europe working in your opinion?

 

Is the EU working?

Just keep reminding yourself how and why these refugees are now so prominent and who is one of the major players in their creation.  Then remind yourself this is literally none of your business and carry on with your day.

 

The less you worry about everything the nicer the days look

[RUPERTKBD]

1 hour ago, Ryan Strome said:

Le Pen get er done.

Yeah. Just what the world needs, another racist in a position of power....

[BlackBeard]

19 minutes ago, Warhippy said:

Just keep reminding yourself how and why these refugees are now so prominent and who is one of the major players in their creation.  Then remind yourself this is literally none of your business and carry on with your day.

 

The less you worry about everything the nicer the days look

the rate of Girls being raped in those countries, especially sweden and germany, just can't help but become emotional when you hear those evil things.

 

Are you going to tolerate all these evil things caused by the refugees/muslim refugees?

[BlackBeard]

6 minutes ago, RUPERTKBD said:

Yeah. Just what the world needs, another racist in a position of power....

Racist? is acknowledging that they have an immigration problem and had an increase in terrorist attack and crimes because of it racist? 

Muhammad, loves people like you, pramis.

 

[Warhippy]

8 minutes ago, BlackBeard said:

the rate of Girls being raped in those countries, especially sweden and germany, just can't help but become emotional when you hear those evil things.

 

Are you going to tolerate all these evil things caused by the refugees/muslim refugees?

Stop clownfish

 

Women get raped the world over.  Don't sit and pretend it is somehow exclusive to specific countries or ideologies.  I don't see you championing the cause of anyone unless there is a shall we say "refugee" tone to the story.

 

So don't you dare attempt to take some sort of moral high ground here, you're repugnant and disgusting for doing this endlessly because this is not the first time you've taken this tact or route to justify your unending ignorance and fear of  those who may be swarthier in complexion than you.

[JM_]

Le Pig won't win. She's win the usual suspects, the fearful of the world, rural areas where less of everything they fear actually occurs. 

[Ryan Strome]

54 minutes ago, Warhippy said:

Just keep reminding yourself how and why these refugees are now so prominent and who is one of the major players in their creation.  Then remind yourself this is literally none of your business and carry on with your day.

 

The less you worry about everything the nicer the days look

You mean the United States? Who was President again when the refugee crisis took place?

 

You praise him constantly..

[BlackBeard]

Just now, Warhippy said:

Stop clownfish

 

Women get raped the world over.  Don't sit and pretend it is somehow exclusive to specific countries or ideologies.  I don't see you championing the cause of anyone unless there is a shall we say "refugee" tone to the story.

 

So don't you dare attempt to take some sort of moral high ground here, you're repugnant and disgusting for doing this endlessly because this is not the first time you've taken this tact or route to justify your unending ignorance and fear of  those who may be swarthier in complexion than you.

clown fish? Yes, I dont respect you warhippy. You love insulting people who brings out "islam."You've always been one of those people who'd gladly watch a girl being raped by a refugee and stay silent because you don't want people to think refugees/islamic refugees are the problem. 

 

you can take the moral high ground you morally superior most knowledgable human

 

[Ryan Strome]

8 minutes ago, S'all Good Man said:

Le Pig won't win. She's win the usual suspects, the fearful of the world, rural areas where less of everything they fear actually occurs. 

Trump won't win and Britain won't vote to leave..

 

Maybe we should just wait till May 7th.

[BlackBeard]

7 minutes ago, S'all Good Man said:

Le Pig won't win. She's win the usual suspects, the fearful of the world, rural areas where less of everything they fear actually occurs. 

yeah, dont care about something that is literally happening in yoir country. Good man you are with that "le pig" thing.

[Warhippy]

8 minutes ago, BlackBeard said:

clown fish? Yes, I dont respect you warhippy. You love insulting people who brings out "islam."You've always been one of those people who'd gladly watch a girl being raped by a refugee and stay silent because you don't want people to think refugees/islamic refugees are the problem. 

 

you can take the moral high ground you morally superior most knowledgable human

 

I don't really consider you human myself. 

 

You're 2 PBR and an Alex Jones rant from going on a lynching.  You're the lowest common denominator and a perfect example of what is wrong with the world.

 

You make disgusting claims like you just did and somehow claim I a husband and father of 2 daughter's would be ok with it based on someone's ethnicity

 

You're an absolute joke of a human being and a sick individual.  You ignore every evil in this world until it fits your disturbing anti everyone that is not pasty narrative then you go on a rant.

 

Raped and murdered natives.  Silent.

Raped and murdered Caucasians silent.

 

Oh look a refugee did it here's my outrage 

 

Crawl back to your hole you sad excuse for a man.