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| Macron set to face Le Pen after first round of French presidential election | Macron set to face Le Pen after first round of French presidential election |
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| The independent centrist Emmanuel Macron has topped the first round of the French presidential election and according to projections will face the far-right Front National’s Marine Le Pen in a standoff marked by anti-establishment anger that knocked France’s traditional political parties out of the race. | |
| Macron, 39, a political novice, now becomes the favourite to be elected as France’s next president. He is the youngest ever French presidential hopeful and has never run for election before. | Macron, 39, a political novice, now becomes the favourite to be elected as France’s next president. He is the youngest ever French presidential hopeful and has never run for election before. |
| After the UK’s vote to leave the European Union and the US vote for the political novice Donald Trump as president, the French presidential race is the latest election to shake up establishment politics by kicking out the figures that stood for the status quo. | After the UK’s vote to leave the European Union and the US vote for the political novice Donald Trump as president, the French presidential race is the latest election to shake up establishment politics by kicking out the figures that stood for the status quo. |
| The historic first-round result marked the rejection of the ruling political class – it was the first time since the postwar period that the traditional left and right ruling parties were both ejected from the race in the first round. | The historic first-round result marked the rejection of the ruling political class – it was the first time since the postwar period that the traditional left and right ruling parties were both ejected from the race in the first round. |
| France’s two political outsiders – the progressive, pro-business and socially liberal Macron and the anti-immigration, anti-EU, far-right Le Pen – will now face off in a final round that will redraw French politics and could define the future direction of Europe. | France’s two political outsiders – the progressive, pro-business and socially liberal Macron and the anti-immigration, anti-EU, far-right Le Pen – will now face off in a final round that will redraw French politics and could define the future direction of Europe. |
| Macron, a former investment banker, who had been a chief adviser and then economy minister to the Socialist François Hollande, is not a member of any political party. He quit government last year, and launched his own political movement En Marche! (on the move) that was “neither left nor right”, promising to “revolutionise” what he called France’s vacuous and decaying political system. | |
| Le Pen’s place in the final round cements her party’s steady rise in French politics. The Front National has made steady gains in every election since she took over the leadership from her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in 2011. Le Pen ran a hardline campaign against immigration and promised to crack down on what she called “Islamic fundamentalism”. While Macron’s supporters at rallies waved EU flags and he hailed the positive role of the 27-country bloc, Le Pen told supporters “the EU will die”. She wants to leave the euro, return to the franc currency, exit the Schengen agreement and close French borders. | |
| The central message of Marine Le Pen’s campaign was the staple of the Front National party since it was co-founded by her father in 1972: keeping France for the French. Le Pen promised to give priority to French people over non-nationals in jobs, housing and welfare, and would hold a referendum to cement this policy into the constitution. She said she would demand extra tax from companies that employed any kind of foreign worker. | The central message of Marine Le Pen’s campaign was the staple of the Front National party since it was co-founded by her father in 1972: keeping France for the French. Le Pen promised to give priority to French people over non-nationals in jobs, housing and welfare, and would hold a referendum to cement this policy into the constitution. She said she would demand extra tax from companies that employed any kind of foreign worker. |
| In the final days of the first round campaign, she returned firmly to the main concern of her electorate: immigration. She went further than she had done before by promising to immediately suspend all legal immigration in order to reassess what she called the “uncontrollable situation” of foreigners coming into France. She promised a ban on religious symbols, including the Muslim headscarf, from all public places. | In the final days of the first round campaign, she returned firmly to the main concern of her electorate: immigration. She went further than she had done before by promising to immediately suspend all legal immigration in order to reassess what she called the “uncontrollable situation” of foreigners coming into France. She promised a ban on religious symbols, including the Muslim headscarf, from all public places. |
| Both the right-wing Les Républicains party and the ruling left-wing Socialists, which have dominated government and French politics for decades, were knocked out of the race. | Both the right-wing Les Républicains party and the ruling left-wing Socialists, which have dominated government and French politics for decades, were knocked out of the race. |
| The scandal-hit rightwing candidate, François Fillon, a former prime minister who was once favourite, was knocked out after his campaign was hit by allegations that he embezzled state funds by giving his wife and children generous, taxpayer-funded “fake jobs” as parliamentary assistants over the course of his long political career. | The scandal-hit rightwing candidate, François Fillon, a former prime minister who was once favourite, was knocked out after his campaign was hit by allegations that he embezzled state funds by giving his wife and children generous, taxpayer-funded “fake jobs” as parliamentary assistants over the course of his long political career. |
| As the count continued on Sunday night, Fillon was tied in third place with the hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of a grassroots movement, La France Insoumise or Untamed France, which had the backing of the Communist party. Mélenchon’s support had surged in the final weeks. | As the count continued on Sunday night, Fillon was tied in third place with the hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of a grassroots movement, La France Insoumise or Untamed France, which had the backing of the Communist party. Mélenchon’s support had surged in the final weeks. |
| The Socialist Benoit Hamon, who came in fourth place with a very low one-figure score, said he had failed in stopping the “disaster” that had been clear in advance. He said the elimination of the left by the far-right for the second time in 15 years – following Jean-Marie Le Pen’s second-round presence in 2002 – showed a “moral defeat” for the left. He appealed for voters to choose Macron to block Le Pen who he called an “enemy of the Republic”. | The Socialist Benoit Hamon, who came in fourth place with a very low one-figure score, said he had failed in stopping the “disaster” that had been clear in advance. He said the elimination of the left by the far-right for the second time in 15 years – following Jean-Marie Le Pen’s second-round presence in 2002 – showed a “moral defeat” for the left. He appealed for voters to choose Macron to block Le Pen who he called an “enemy of the Republic”. |