From the French edition of The Local
Almost as soon as the news broke that Marine Le Pen had qualified for the runoff vote of the French presidential election, calls were issued by politicians on the left and the right, notably losing candidate François Fillon, to vote against her.
And on the left defeated Socialist party candidate Benoit Hamon also called for supporters to back Macron, “even though he’s not part of the left.”
Socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve joined calls, saying “the result calls for a clear and strong position from all republicans,” and asking them to vote “to beat the National Front and defeat their fatal project.”
Former Justice Minister Christiane Taubira followed a similar sentiment, tweeting “without doubt, without delay, obviously we will vote for Macron.”
The news that history was repeating itself didn’t impress Le Pen supporters in Henin Beaumont where the candidate held her electoral evening on Sunday.
“I was expecting Fillon would call for a blockage against Le Pen, we need to hope the French will stay with their convictions and not let themselves be manipulated like that,” a woman named Christelle, 45 told The Local.
And some Le Pen supporters there believed his calls will land on deaf ears.
“People are free to vote with their own conscience. Even tonight at his rally his own fans weren’t of the same opinion and started leaving before he even finished talking. I think a lot of Fillon’s supporters will come to Le pen now, which is a good thing.”
Opinion polls in the run up to the election suggested as many as a third of Fillon voters would be ready to back Le Pen if the case he was defeated in the first round.
Leftist Mélenchon announced that he won’t tell his supporters how to vote. However, even if he did call upon his “France Insoumise (defiant)” movement to vote for Macron, many would find it hard.
“Macron is more fascist than Le Pen,” one supporter at Mélenchon’s electoral evening, 66 year old Francoise, told The Local.
“Hugo Bacoul, a Hamon supporter told The Local: “It’s really complicated now because I think that 30 percent of French people relate to neither the values of Macron nor Le Pen.
“But we can’t get Le Pen into power. Macron is not much better, but he is just not as bad.”
Another Hamon supporter named Yves Lechermeier told The Local: “Macron is the worst candidate to run against Le Pen. I will definitely vote for him but with disgust.”
So Macron may benefit from the “Front Republicain” against Marine Le Pen to achieve the 50 percent he needs, but that doesn’t mean a majority of the French people will be over the moon to see him as their president.
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One Response
If France votes for Macron they will just fall apart that much faster. Le Pe would have at least slowed the collapse. Must suck to be in France in their collecve suicde.